A Nice Drive

Rich had the day off work, and I had the day off from radiation, so we decided to go for a drive. We miss our little summer get-a-ways--usually to Duluth--so we decided to get out for the day. We drove up to Mille Lacs Lake--about a 2 hour drive. We took the slower, 2 lane road on the way up, and the traffic wasn't bad at all and we cruised pretty fast. There are so many old, falling down barns on that road--Shonna would love it for photos! When we got to the lake we drove along the south shore over to hwy 169. That road was stop and go traffic for many miles! Lots of boat trailers and campers!. We got up to Garrison and finally found a decent place to eat, then walked over to the park that's on the lake and hung out there for awhile. We took 169 home (4 lanes and much faster going away from the lakes). Some of the clouds were starting to look a little dark up there, and looking at radar, it looks like there are some strong thunderstorm cells there now--glad we missed that! I started feeling nauseous when we were getting ready to leave Garrison, and after a while I decided to take one of my pills (never leave home without them! ), and now I feel a little better. We eat out alot so sometimes I just wonder if its the restaurant food, or the chemo. I haven't had any nausea since the first couple of days of radiation. All in all, it was a very nice day tho.

Yesterday, at radiation, they were having trouble with the machine, so I had to sit in the waiting room for awhile. I saw a woman with the same pump bag as mine and asked her about it. Turns out she has colon cancer also, and the same exact treatment as I do! She's almost done with her radiation, so she was able to give me some insight on how I might be feeling toward the end of treatment. She said fatigue kicked in about 2 weeks ago, and she hasn't had too much trouble with diarrhea, just a few days here and there. Her hair is thinning also, altho you can't tell yet. My hair has really started to thin again this last week or so. I was hoping it was the other chemo drug that caused that, but I guess the drug in my pump(5FU) causes it. It was nice to meet someone who has the same treatment as I do. Most that have radiation have tumors to shrink and often have different chemo drugs than I do. I really wanted to meet someone who has gone thru the same thing I am. Unfortunately, the nurse called her back before I could get her name! I hope I see her again.
Well, I was going to add some pics of our day trip, but something seems to be wrong with the usb connections! So I'll try again later!
Take care everyone!
Love,
Tina