Sometimes you just have to throw the covers over your head and hunker down...

Thanks, all, for the emails and comments asking how I was doing when I disappeared from the blog for a while.  Every cycle the 'down days' got lower; as this was the last treatment, I hit a pretty low low. 

I was able to spend several hours vertically every day through last Saturday, then Sunday I realized I was at the point where it was just better to throw the covers over my head and hunker down through the down days.  I slept through several days in a row, was pretty much a vegetable for a few more, and I'm just now re-emerging to rediscover the world.  I feel like Rip Van Winkle.

Coming back to the world after a week is interesting.

It's amazing what happens, and doesn't, in a week. Here’s my list of observations, in no particular order:

- All of my nonfat ice cream treats in the freezer mysteriously evaporated.  The dog looks apologetic but is not ratting out her co-conspirator.
- I forgot two of my computer passwords.  Side note:  I still think the best password is 'incorrect':  when you can’t log in, your computer will obligingly pipe up to tell you "Your password is incorrect."  However, my passwords actually require brainpower, and I'm sure I'll figure out them out again eventually.  So what if I can't get into Excel - I still have Candy Crush.
- All my carefully courted birds deserted our yard when the feeders ran out.  After restocking with pricey, el primo sunflower seeds, the fickle feathered freeloaders still haven't returned.  If you cardinals and woodpeckers don't stop back by soon, it's back to the el cheapo stuff.  Just sayin'.
- The Kardashians are STILL in the news. Sigh. Is it just me, or are the Kardashians the cockroaches of the media world?  You know what I mean, they'll somehow still be there after the world ends.  I can just hear the newscast now:  "This morning Little Kim dropped nuclear bombs on all major U.S. cities without winning NBA teams.  The status of the U.S. government is unknown, but in other news, Kim Kardashian's sixth child, South-by-South West “SXSW,” was born this afternoon and bidding has started for his/her pictures." 
- Paula Deen had a brand implosion.  I think that's the noise which finally woke me up on Wednesday.
- Martha Stewart told Andy Cohen that of course she knew how to roll a joint.  My impression of Martha has forever changed.  Do you think she just monogrammed the papers before she rolled it, or did she add a lace frill?
- Edward Snowden is still a man without a country, although still a man with a lot of stolen info.  And really?  He's been at the Moscow airport since Sunday?  Wasn't living at the airport a Tom Hanks movie a couple of years ago?
- And Texas finally hit the triple digits.  Even I think it's hot now.

This coming week I should start trending back up, and boy am I looking forward to it.  I'm on the sixth week of my upper respiratory infection.  My doc tried to knock it out by throwing various kinds of antibiotics at it week after week, but I think all he succeeded in doing was annoying it:  it's gotten progressively worse and now I have complete laryngitis.  No phone calls for me!

Heartfelt thanks go to my husband for being a very patient caregiver these past few weeks.  He had to roll day-to-day between "don't talk about food, I'll throw up"  to "I'm starving, let's go to Velvet Taco NOW."  Not to mention trying to talk to me when I can barely whisper, trying to sleep through continual coughing episodes, and managing to check on me several times a day to make sure I'm still alive and kicking.

So it's all up from here!  My final series of scans are scheduled for early August, which is about the time I'll be cleared to be around people and people places again, and generally go at life full force.  It will be wonderful.