December has come and gone....this year has been bitter cold. The winds were brutal creating windchills in the single digits. January is here. From my vanatage in the three season room, I can survey the back yard .The patio wind chimes ring and clang in the wind...none of the sweet tones of the summer. The tubes are blown nearly parallel to the ground, roughly tossed by blustery winds and rain.
The trees that used to shade me on summer afternoons on the patio as I recovered from surgery, are bare of leaves. The snow of December has melted over the last few days of unseasonably warm temperatures. It's grey, windy and a light rain is falling.
I haven't written in two months. November and December were very stressful, and to add to it all, I had an upper and lower respiratory infection hanging around for most of December.
It seemed to me that I've been writing mostly about the side effects of the medication Tarceva (erlotinib). That topic must continue in the hope that maybe someone else will find the information useful. I'm also having a lot more residual discomfort from my left pneumonectomy (lung removal) of June 7 that's extremely distressing.
Right now the nasty rash has decided to take up residence on my right inner eyelid,from the crease up. The area is swollen, papular, painful and itchy. It's also peeling. About every cream cautions "...avoid contact with eyes...", but I'm so desperate to stop the itch, I've tried about everything anyway.
I was discussing this problem with my mother-in-law, who I love dearly. She looked at me, brought her hands together and said, "Thank heavens!! I've been agonizing for days trying to think of how to tell you that the pink eye shadow looks terrible!".
Yeah...it looks like very badly applied pink eye shadow. If I put any makeup on the area, it just seems to look worse. It also irritates it. Lately the only thing that helps is a judicious application of Bag Balm. My eyelid resembles a small monkey butt. Truly.
I'm also having a terrible time with the eyelashes. On the lower lid, there are a few tiny lashes that come in growing the wrong way: toward my eye. There are also some coming in closer to the eye than they should, growing on that inner margin where some (brave) women put more blue eyeliner. They are very hard to see, even with a lighted, magnification makeup mirror. They're also hard to get a hold of.
In spite of very good medical management (medications), I still have serious problems with my left side as a consequence of the surgery. The incision area itself is numb. As I may have mentioned before, the pain is around front. If you place your hand under your left breast with your middle finger on the bottom rib, that's the location. Numbness, yet with burning, tingling, and some sort of interference with the tissues below. When I wake up in the morning, the medications have worn off. My left side is so sore and stiff feeling it hurts to take a deep breath. I have to get my meds on board immediately. Getting ready in the morning has turned into a much slower process than it was before. The discomfort slows me down substantially, and I have the additional task of applying handfuls of lotion to my entire body.
OK. Enough of that. David and I shared our first kiss on New Years Eve 2005-2006. We've been together a full 5 years. It's been quite a journey.
