Easter Risings

While the thought of say, Green Eggs and Ham, probably would have done me in, I was feeling good enough for Easter Brunch with Chris and his family today--Omakase, of course. It's like we're addicted; but we knew Brein and Roryann could handle whatever my stomach was doing and Chris's sister Kati's temporary vegan-ism--it was a Lent thing. It's over now. Well, hers is. My issues are alive and well. So, here we are, proof positive I was out and about 3 days after the new chemo. And yes, I was still rockin' the Britney/ Mod Squad look. What else would you wear to dine on herb salad, Croque Monsieur and almond strawberry tartlet? Exactly. Ooh, and there was homemade ginger ale, which was oh so helpful to my tummy. Even if Chris's dad was a little disturbed by the chunk of ginger in the bottom of my glass. Ginger is to the upset tummy what baking soda water is to indigestion. This is what you think about on Easter too, right? Okay, look, there are rising-ups that should be avoided on Easter. That's all I'm saying.

Before I get to the less pleasant details of this new chemo, here's Chris and his mom and sisters (okay Googlers, that would be, left to right, COURTNEY KERN, KATI KERN, TRUDI KERN and CHRIS KERN....please tell me you had figured out that last one yourself) as we strolled the Mission Inn. It's the Riverside tour; it has to be done.

So this new chemo...it's Taxol instead of Taxotere, you may recall. And I was switched to it on Thursday with, oh, about 30 minutes warning, during the stethoscope tango I was doing with the good doc. I was surprised to start feeling queasy Friday night and all day yesterday. Of all the side effects chemo brings, that just hadn't been one of them. I sort of feel like I've had my share, so I wasn't really expecting that one. But then I went online last night and looked up Taxol. Hmmm... seems that's a really common side effect of Taxol. More than the others. Gee...wouldn't that have been nice to know? Perhaps I would have taken the extra anti-nausea medicine earlier. Oh, and it causes...I'm just going to go with "the opposite digestive problem from the one I'm used to." Also, would have been good to know ahead of time. Like, say, 12 hours ahead of time. But you know, chemo is just one of those things you drop by the doctor's office for on a whim and then head on out. It's not like you need to prepare or, you know, plan for anything. I'm clearly just a big wimp. In a headscarf. (It's pretty cute though, isn't it? That's the one Gary and Rich sent).

I'm going to take the anti-nausea medicine now. Which is also a sedative (fun, fun times). So, depending on which of those two things wins out, I will either crash and sleep for the next 12 hours and therefore this is it for the blog posting, OR, I will rally, have a small dinner, perhaps even go on a little walk with Seamus (the Easter Beagle, dontchaknow), and then return to finally give my highly anticipated "Tips from a Breast Cancer Wimp Who Is Doing it All Wrong." Yeah, I know which one your money is on. (Mine too.)