Things I’m grateful for:

1. I finished my first round of chemo! WOO-HOO!!!

2. My caring neighbor Amy. She’ll be coming to visit on Wednesday bearing gifts of soup. YUM.

3. My circle of family and friends who have my back, no matter what.

Bleeeeeccchhhhh…. I’m feeling the effects of the chemo big-time today. The strong chemicals and medicines have caused my senses of smell and taste to dial up way past 11. I can smell my nurse’s hair product before he even comes into the room. I can taste the chemicals of the fruit wash the hospital kitchen uses to clean pre-sliced fruit. And I won’t even go into how much more of a nightmare taking all my pills has become. My sister gave me some good advice yesterday though that I think will make getting all my medicines down a little easier. Good old saltine crackers. I tried a variant of her technique tonight and it really seemed to help. I’ll just ask the nurses to bring me up a pile of crackers from the kitchen so I can nibble freely throughout the day. They help with upset tummies as well and right now I need all the help I can get in that department. Too bad I don’t have any fresh sliced ginger but then again, I probably wouldn’t be able to handle its strong spicy flavor.