Yep. Here it is, the last day of freedom before nightly awakenings at midnight for blood labs. Vital checks around the clock. Countless pills to choke down. IV pumps clicking and growling right next to my hospital bed. Weird lights from monitors and diagnostic equipment flashing through the night. Nurses and doctors drifting into my room at odd times (usually when I’m either on the toilet, in the shower, on the phone with Rory, taking a nap, or trying to watch a movie on my iPad). Trying to time my showers between IV chemo treatments that can’t be interrupted. Well-meaning volunteers and physical therapists checking on me daily, asking questions that I’ve answered dozens of times before. GAHHHH. The one positive thing about all this is that by the end of this cycle, I will be slightly more than halfway through my chemo treatment schedule. Yah-frickin’-HOO!!!

We went to lunch today at our usual go-to for Mexican food in Gruene. There really aren’t any good Mexican restaurants in town, or at least, not what I would call good. Almost all of them serve the Americanized, industrial version of Tex-Mex – lots of cheese, puréed pinto beans, a weird tasteless sort of Spanish rice, and salsa that has no character whatsoever. If you’ve got a hankering for a good fire-roasted salsa or a tangy salsa verde, you’re out of luck and you’d do better traveling to the next state over. (New Mexico’s Mexican food is stellar, probably the best I’ve ever had, and their salsas are AMAZING. Fiery, yes, but so, so flavorful.) Still, for all my complaining, Adobe Verde (or Green Dirt, as we call it) isn’t too bad and the venue is funky and charming. It has the added plus of being right next door to Gruene Coffee Haus, which makes a mocha iced frappe which is even better than the yummy iced blendeds that I used to buy at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf back in California. Today’s lunch was definitely high-calorie! 😄

Time to begin packing. I went up into the crawl space above the garage and retrieved one of our rolling suitcases, which will be a lot easier to deal with than schlepping an awkward heavy duffel bag. Rory took one look at the suitcase and said sadly, “I don’t want to see that.” No kidding. Neither do I. I don’t want to deal with any of this but I don’t have much of a choice. Three weeks. I won’t be home for at least another three weeks.😔

I cooked a tasty little dinner of pan-seared pork chops that I finished in the oven and paired with garlic roasted potatoes. Yum! After our meal we all gathered in the living room and watched “Knives Out”, a film that Rory had taken the girls to see in the theater and they absolutely loved. It was probably one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time, very clever and well written, with lots of twists that keep you on your toes until the very end. It was a good way to end our evening and my time at home, sitting with my family and enjoying a movie together. Geez, I’m going to miss them so much.