Update on chemo and other stuff

Monday I had lab work as usual.  I was really hoping for normal ranges.  It worries me if things are too low to take chemo.  I know the tumor won't gain on me in just one week, but I still worry.  Luckily all was in an allowable range and I had chemo on Tuesday. 

I am having more tingling and numbness in different parts of my body.  The doctor is surprised I haven't had more problems with neuropathy.  I hope it doesn't get worse.  I could have problems just feeding myself if I can't feel the fork.  Also sometimes there is pain involved.  I don't want to be drugged up on Mr. Morphine again.  I know, I'm borrowing trouble. 

Lack of sleep has been a problem this week.  I always have a problem sleeping the night of chemo.  But this is all week.  The question is, is it chemo or the heat wave we are enduring?   I am betting on the heat. This Victorian house has no insulation in the outside walls, so it doesn't cool down at night.  It just holds the heat in.   The house has been over 90 degrees at midnight, outside 70 degrees.  The fog is coming in and today is cooler.  Maybe I will sleep better tonight.  I do know I am really tired and really cranky.

In spite of being tired and having chemo I have done some normal things. I wash dishes, and make the bed everyday.  I changed the sheets, did the laundry (Boy did the hung up laundry dry quickly! 10% humidity and 101 degrees.  My own dryer inside the house.) 

Yesterday three friends took me to lunch.  We gossiped, talked about my Kaiser interview, caught up on their lives, and laughed a lot.  It was a lovely time and I hope we can get together more often.  They are busy ladies, so often probably won't happen.

It has been way too hot to cook, so I made Benedictine  and pimento cheese for Marty.  I can't eat the Benedictine, which I love, because of the raw ingredients.  As for the pimento cheese, chemo taste buds hate mayonnaise, so it tastes awful to me.  Two of my favorite foods, and I can't eat them. Peanut butter seems to taste OK and is my food of choice.  I have had bacon and tomato sandwiches.  We blanch the tomatoes and peel them, then they are safe for me to eat.

I don't feel bad, just really tired.  I napped this morning and plan another nap for this afternoon.  I am doing really well and about to mark a big anniversary.  Next week will mark one year since the tumor was found.  And I am still here.  Thank you to all who hold me in their prayers and who have helped get me through the dark hard times of the last year.  Hang on and watch me go for year two.  We can do this!

 

Southern Cooking

Saturday night we had friends for dinner.  They both really love good food, and are very good cooks.  We have had fabulous food at their home.  I wanted to give them the taste treat they had given us.

We changed the menu several times.  I kept coming back to wanting to make spoon bread and Marty wanted fried corn.  Not just anything goes with that.  So we decided to go whole hog Southern.

The menu: 

Appetizers

Benedictine spread, fancy cheeses, duck  pate with truffles, and mushrooms stuffed with country ham sausage.

Salad course

Avocado and shrimp with a remoulade sauce

Main Course

Grilled asparagus, Fried Corn, Spoon Bread, Tri-tip wrapped in country ham sausage

Dessert Course

Creme Brulee

Champagne and various wines served

The table is ready for the guests.

                                             

Country ham stuffed mushrooms ready to go in the oven.

Some of the ingredients for spoon bread: Cornmeal imported from Kentucky, separated eggs.

                                                    

The cornmeal is added to milk and cooked to a thick mush.  This takes a lot of stirring or it will burn on the bottom.  The yolks are added, other ingredients, then butter and whipped egg whites are folded in.  This all goes in the oven to be baked.

 

Corn kernels are cut off the cob and cooked in bacon grease and butter.  Cream is added at the end with salt and pepper.  Notice it is cooked in a cast iron skillet.

Marinated shrimp and avocado, parts of the salad.

Torn lettuce waiting for the shrimp salad.

                                         

The tri-tip is resting before it is sliced.  The sausage has been moved to the right side.

Marty had made the creme brulee and it is waiting to be torched.  His blowtorch has been tested and ready to go.  When he was ready to torch the topping, nothing happened. The blowtorch would not stay lit.  He had to brown the sugar topping under the broiler.  It doesn’t change the taste, but you don’t get that hard shell top.

It was a lovely dinner.  One of our guests was excited to have spoon bread.  He had eaten it years ago on a trip to Kentucky.  And as for the fried corn, there was nothing left.  Someone had three helpings.  Happy guests=happy hosts.