25,000 Clicks and 2 hands

I see by my counter on the blog that I am just about to reach 25,000 hits to this blog. That probably means a whole lot of nothing, but that just makes me giggle anyway.

In other fun news, last night Chris and I went to Massage Envy to participate in "Massage for a Cure." $35 for a one-hour massage with a part of the proceeds going to the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure (nationwide Massage for a Cure raised over $35,000 yesterday!). We're such givers, we were willing to be massaged for a cure. I wore my Survivor t-shirt and commenced to fill out all the paperwork. They customize the massage so they have you list things like "Illnesses, surgeries, health concerns"--yeah, umm....I'm gonna be here awhile. Then there's the boxes you check for particular health issues or concerns. Chris leaned over to make sure I checked the box for "insomnia"--these days I'm more likely to forget to check the box for "cancer". And yes, there was such a box and that was the first time I've had to check that. Reminded me of the first time I had to check the "divorced" box...really? Me? Huh. (I'm just going to start looking for the "loser" box!!).

The massage was wonderful, and I think it even helped my foot problem (no hair massage, so I'm still on my own for that). Then post-massage they go over the membership "opportunities." Works like a health club--monthly fee charged to your card and with that you get a one hour massage each month; if you want another massage it's $39. Which is a pretty good price. So you know I signed up. Hey, I need to pay attention to my health right? Call it an epiphany! ;-) At any rate, because I was a "Survivor" and apparently the only breast cancer survivor who showed up at this particular location, the manager threw in one free massage for me! The cancer card keeps on paying!!  I'm feeling better already.

(photo is from Massage Envy website...Google is reminding me to comply with copyright laws. On the other hand, I'm sure Massage Envy doesn't mind my free advertising for them.)

My Chemo Calorie Counting

Yeah, that's not really happening. There are certain rules... well, no, not really rules...guidelines...for things to avoid. I think I've mentioned a few ...sushi, mushrooms, raspberries, anything that maybe is difficult to wash. To be honest, I 'm not real sure. It's all about avoiding any kind of bacterial infection and of course not upsetting my stomach, which is already battling well, ah, chemo and all. So far one of the hardest things is actually remembering that I'm sick. And that I need to think about what I eat or do. Yeah, I'm not good at that. I eat like a teenage boy. Always have. Which is to say, I eat a lot and I pay no attention to "health." (Yeah, yeah, go ahead and tell yourself I got cancer because of my eating habits and so it won't happen to you. What. Ever. Science is not on your side on that. Um, or mine.) But now, I'm trying to pay attention. Trying to not eat anything that might cause problems. Only I'm hungry all the time! I can't eat as much in one sitting as I could before (this, I'm sure, is a really good thing) but I need to nibble or snack every hour or so. Despite this, I've lost 4 pounds in 5 days. Really hoping that keeps up!

So here's how my care and feeding plan went today: Breakfast was a piece of wheat toast with peanut butter (which took two tries, I made it and then left the room momentarily and of course, Seamus stole the first one). Lunch was In 'n Out--cheeseburger, fries and an iced tea. The fries tasted funny to me (the metallic taste in my mouth thing), but otherwise, mmmmm. I did manage a couple of carrot sticks as a snack (because right, you need a snack when you've had In 'n Out for lunch!!), but then dinner was....Omakase!! Tonight they switched to the Spring menu so they had a special tasting and wine pairing. Not to be missed. But I had to carefully consider the menu whereas normally I would have just said "whatever the chef is making" (yeah, he's that good). I thought I was being really good--garden salad (that's it in the picture up top), potato gnocchi and belly of Vande Rose Pork and I limited myself to one beautiful glass of wine. But the food was so dang good I kept stealing from Chris's plate...and glass. Which meant I also "tasted" Fuet de Vic and Roast marrow of Brandt Beef. I did stop at Sweetbreads of Milk-fed veal (Chris didn't stop). I don't know if this means I'm doing chemo all wrong or all right. I suppose time will tell. But right now, tonight, I feel really good. It's nice to still be going out, still have energy (yeah, I did have to take a nap between work and dinner), and to be able to enjoy a really, really good meal (two actually--come on, In 'n Out is really good too!).