I went to V100’s Working Women’s Wednesday at the Power Alley Grill earlier this week. I did one break on the radio with Ric, and then found myself sitting at a table with friends… and forgot all about the radio! I was having such a good time chatting and laughing with the girls. And I was feeling really healthy and energetic too! (Ric told me later he didn’t even want to “bother” me with the radio breaks because I looked so happy.) My friend Sandy just told me over and over how good I looked. I didn’t argue with her, because I felt good! Later, after we left the restaurant, I realized that Sandy and I met after my diagnosis and surgery, and perhaps even after chemo started… so she had never really seen me or known me to be “not sick”! Even on my best days after chemo, I was still somewhat weak, always tired, and sometimes nauseous or in pain… and definitely pale. It’s been almost a month since my last chemo, so I’ve had time to regain some zest and energy!
Running Out
On Friday, Ric and I went to the shopping area in Southridge. We both had errands to run in different directions, so I dropped Ric off and drove his jeep to Kohl’s. Twenty minutes later I headed back to pick him up and the “low coolant” light went on in his car. I picked him up and told him about the light. He drove from there and then more warning lights started to come on. We got out and looked… fluid was just coming out of the radiator in a steady stream. We tried to make it home, but the jeep died before we made it. So… called AAA to come to our rescue and had it towed. Two things Ric kept asking over and over: “Why did this have to happen two days before I leave for Pittsburgh?” and “What did you hit, Jeanne?” (I didn’t hit anything. I could understand why he thought I did. I left with a vehicle that was running perfectly… and came back with a broken one.)
Anyway, turns out the radiator split… who knows why… a part had to be ordered… repairs wouldn’t be completed in time for Ric’s trip. Of course Ric realized then that it was actually good that it happened before his trip rather than during. It’s easier to handle things like this at home.
Running Scared
This morning I heard this odd little squeal beside the chair I was in which I was sitting, reading, in the family room. I looked to the side and saw Dot looking under the chair. Thinking she lost some little toy underneath, I told her I’d get it in a second… waiting till I finished a chapter… or two.
I noticed she kept sitting there, occasionally trying to reach her toy… not giving up. So finally I decided to see what she wanted. I pushed the big leather chair to the side and saw this little gray mouse toy that I didn’t even remember having ever purchased for the cats… because I don’t like mouse toys that look real… AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! It moved! It was a real mouse! I screamed so loud I scared the cat away, and the mouse went back under the chair. What do I do? What do I do? I don’t want to kill it. Even though I can’t stand the thought of a mouse in my house… yet I could see that it was too cute to harm.
Ric was at Enterprise making arrangements to rent a car for his trip to Pittsburgh (since his jeep wouldn’t be fixed for several days). I knew he was busy… but I made a frantic call to him anyway. He was silent at first, and then very calmly said, “I’ll have to get back to you on this.” (Later he would tell me he was just incredulous that I would bother him with a teeny tiny little mouse “problem” while he was in the middle of trying to work out car repairs and a car rental and trying to get to work on time and all… but just took a deep breath, and let me know it would be handled later.)
I had just recently talked with Jill about a mouse in her house, so I called her next. Suppressing giggles, she gave me a few options, including just trying to scoot it out the back door with a broom. I was sitting on a kitchen chair, with my bare feet up on it too… off the floor, so I went to the bedroom to get shoes AND socks! But realized I had to get to work too… so I left.
Ric came home later… simply guided the mouse into a shoebox… and dropped him off at the edge of the woods. Ric told me the little guy didn’t want to be in our house anymore than we wanted him there. When he got home, there was a cat on each side of the chair… and the mouse had been trapped there for hours. Now, even though I had been totally creeped out earlier, I was feeling sad and sorry for the little tiny gray ball of fur… with the beady eyes and sharp pointed little tail.
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