The Ides of May

We had sunshine yesterday, real, actual sunshine, for the first time all day in I don't even know how long. So I decided I better start the hardening off process for the garden seedlings. Who knows when we'd get another one? (Actually looks like we'll have two in a row as today is sunny and low wind; don't read it out loud as I don't want to jinx it!)

Those are mostly various types of tomatoes but the yellow-green cheerful looking ones are basil and the tiny ones on the end are salvia, I think. I am never sure who needs to start inside and who can just get dumped into dirt outside, so I try some of each and hope for the best. They seemed to enjoy their field trip, anyway, and stayed out for an entire hour. I hope to do at least that long again today and maybe stretch it a little further.

We've had visitors. Meet Gus and Gertie, the ducks who return to the pond next door each year. Yes, they are sitting in our front yard in what the kids call The Leak. Remember that you can click on the photos to see them larger. I didn't want to get any closer and scare them. Gus saw me and headed for Gertie as it was...

And here's where y'all come in on this, the Ides of May: tomorrow I begin taking Nerlynx for one year. It replaces the Herceptin that I had for a whole year and is supposed to help prevent cancer recurrence.

The number one side effect is diarrhea, yaaaaay. Also there are potential liver issues. While I can prepare for one of those things:

I'm not sure there's really much I can do about prepping my liver. So, all y'all get to pray against diarrhea as ain't nobody got time for that, especially at the end of the school year and the beginning of summer and I already had that last year, thank you very much, and am not looking forward to any repeat performances. Also please pray that my liver behaves itself and I experience no issues. The side effects of liver damage ("call your doctor if you notice these signs") were identical to the side effects of the medication itself: vomiting, tiredness, nausea... I mused to Dada, "how am I supposed to know if it's garden variety vomiting versus liver related vomiting? It's not like it's going to tell me!" Ugh. 

BUT you can do anything for one year, right? And my doc and the drug company are both very proactive about prevention and easing into the med carefully. For example, it's written as a 6 pill a day (and thank you, Jesus, that they are tiny, WOOHOO!) prescription, but starting tomorrow I will take 3 daily for a week. If that seems to work, I'll up it to 4 for a week, and build up to the 6 daily. Alongside the pills, I am to take Imodium 3x a day for the first two weeks. Dada, guess we know which stock to invest in. 

So that's the situation as of right now. Please pray hard as I'm supposed to be at Damon's school three times in the next two days and I can't do that if I'm stuck on the commode, as Nana would say. Pray for him, too, please, as he's overwhelmed with these big projects. We will all sleep well Friday night, for sure!

Happy hump day!