'Every house guest brings you happiness. Some when they arrive, and some when they are leaving.'
-Confucious

We have made it 7 weeks living with my parents and there have been ZERO mentions in the local news!  We need one of those signs they have on jobsites that say how many days they've gone without an accident.  It does appear that we will be overstaying the contractor's initial 2 month estimate.  I'm confident saying this because the real work has not yet started.  The sewer and plumbing work has been completed and all the bathrooms have been demo'd (please note the sign they put up on the powder room door telling you to not use the sink...and the hole in the wall where a sink used to be 🤣).  We are the neighbors with toilets in their backyard.  The house next to us is a rental and the new neighbors moved in while we've been away.  Usually we are the ones scoping out what is happening over the wall, but I'm guessing they are wondering about the jackhammering, debris and plumbing fixtures in the yard - nice neighbors!

We met with the contractor this week to go over my 'additional scope'.  There may be a few things I've added to what insurance is covering.  I mean, if you're already tearing the place up, you might as well make a few updates.  The contractor was 'delighted' to receive a 12 page Powerpoint presentation with keynotes and specs.  He was less than delighted that I had negotiated with his wholesale dealer to purchase the materials with my trade pricing rather than his.  In my defense, much of what we were doing at the time was not going to be covered by insurance, so it made sense for me to purchase what was outside of the insurance scope.  Glad to know I can still be a thorn in a contractor's side 😂 

What happens next is demo of our existing wood floors, then they fix whatever damage there may be to the slab under the floors.  Then they put all the bathrooms and laundry room back together.  After that, we hope that the new kitchen island (that has not yet been ordered) will be in because it has to be installed on the slab, then floors, then doors, baseboards, paint.  Sounds easy, right?  Until you hear that door install is 6 weeks out - every time you move the installation date.  Right now I have them for the beginning of May.  We are never going to make that.  So when do I move it?  I think when I have a date for the kitchen island, which is 6-8 weeks.  If I guess wrong, I have to hope someone cancels, or it's another 6 weeks delay!

All this may be a bit stressful...and I've always been terrible at managing stress.  I went for my infusion and I actually had a normal person's blood pressure.  I'm usually a 100/67-ish (low enough that they ask if you feel dizzy) and I was 120/78. It was two days after St. Patrick's day...so BP was taken after me eating salty corned beef for two days which might have been a factor.  In addition to the unusual BP, my white blood cell count had dropped an entire point!  It dropped from a 'healthy' (for me) 4.5 of the last few visits to 3.5 which is below 4.0 (normal).  Of course shortly after receiving these results, I came down with a staph infection on my scalp and the piercings that I've had in my ears for 35 years all got infected, so I ended up on a course of antibiotics for a week.

Mom went with me to my infusion and to meet with my oncologist.  After we ran through my questions, my mom asked the question that I avoid and said, "She doing really good, right?".  Without hesitation, my oncologist answered, "She's doing amazing".  He NEVER says stuff like that to me!  He's totally non-committal! When I ask, "Can I go on vacation in 6 months?", I get, "I can get you out of anything".   What is this BS???   I'm bringing her more often.

The big news from last week was my MUGA scan.  This is the nuclear test of my heart function.  As a reminder, I have to stay above 50% for them to continue my infusion treatments and my cancer treatment impacts my heart function.  My last few MUGAs were 57% and I had an echocardiogram that was 47%, so I have to go to the same machine at the same hospital every time.  When I last talked to my cardiologist, she said there really isn't anything I can do to improve my heart function.  I already walk several days a week and doing harder or more high intensity workouts would not be beneficial. 

I arrived at the hospital to a warm welcome at check in.  They asked if I'd gone a bit longer this time (it's gotta be the gray hair - I can't be the only frequent flier!???).  I showed the volunteer the way to the radiology waiting room and was picked up by the same tech that always does my test.  I got my comfy chair, took the requisite selfie while I waited to go nuclear (again!) and then drove home to wait for results.  Monday morning I got the alert from MyChart and quickly logged in...ejection fraction was 61%!!!  Somehow my heart function increased??!!  This means a very easy appointment with the cardiologist and maybe I can go longer than 12 weeks (a girl can dream).  We have a theory...I was blessed with holy water at Our Lady of Guadalupe.  I don't drink caffeine.  I have exactly the same breakfast every morning.  It was the same tech and the same machine.  The number never goes up, only down.  I will present my findings to my cardiologist...who will tell me whatever it is, keep it up.  We know the truth, right? 😉

Can you believe a little leak, led to finding a blocked sewer, led to the attached photo of our guest bath??  All I was hoping for was to update the wood floors.  Be careful what you wish for and, if you have the opportunity, be good to your parents...you never know when you might need a favor!

XOXO,
Kristen