Life is not a bed of roses. Daisies and sunflowers were not in the picture this week either. Michelle had a severe reaction to some pain medication that was prescribed to her. If you can imagine trying to lift someone into a car who has no control over their body, you can imagine part of our week. I was able to get Michelle into the oncology center for fluids and strong anti-nausea meds. After 2 days she returned to an “almost” new-normal.
Blood tests and an MRI of the brain did not reveal any abnormalities caused from the reaction. Michelle stayed tired and not motivated to do much. In addition to the tailbone pain she had from a fall she suffered a few weeks ago, she now has knee pain also. This was from her husband taking 45 minutes to load a wet noodle into the car after fluids and an anti-nausea infusion. Michelle does not remember much from the day.
Chele’s sense of taste has disappeared again. She says things taste like cardboard. It has been a month since her last cisplatin infusion and over a week since her last IT chemo, so we are unclear what is causing this. Not being able to taste has brought on a slight depression. Hopefully the taste comes back, and Chele’s mood returns to where it was a week or so ago.
Highlight of the week Chele spent about 2 hours on the back patio this week. She enjoyed listening to the birds chirping and watching the one blue heron fish with its sister bird the snowy egret on Luck Lake. Her smile never left her face the entire time. We sat together hand in hand, and it felt like just 5 minutes.
Random Fact of the Week A Bed of roses is an expression that represents a carefree life. In the thirteenth-century poem “Le Roman de la Rose”, a Lover recounts his dream of touring a garden and finding a beautiful bed of roses by the Fountain of Love. The expression is also used by later poets. Here is a line in Christopher Marlowe's poem The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. This was published posthumously in 1599; Marlowe was stabbed to death in 1593.
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;.
Did you know? When Michelle and I first met, she would yell “fools” whenever she saw cars or signs saying, “Just Married”. I am ever so fortunate that tune changed!
Throwback Love Story “THE PROTECTOR PART I” We decided to get sheep in the summer of 2019. The thought was to knock down the weeds in the pasture that the cows don’t eat, this would be great for pasture maintenance. We have a lot of coyotes in the country and coyotes like the taste of sheep. I needed a dog to watch over and protect them and a donkey to hang out with them and scare away any immediate threats that might linger. We did some research on what kind of dog we wanted. Everyone has a Great Pyrenees. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t get something that everyone has. I wanted something unique, working dog caliber like a Pyrenees. It didn’t take me long to find the perfect breed, “The Anatolian Shepherd”. We decided to get a purebred because I knew getting the perfect purebred dog, he would do his job and protect the sheep, and the entire farm. Chele and I found a breeder in Tennessee that was making a trip south soon and agreed to bring Titan to us. He and his siblings were named after professional football teams and Titan was a fitting name for this dog. He was a perfect fit for us. We brought him home and introduced him to his new friends at the barn. It was obvious he was not raised with training on the shepherd mentality. He wanted to protect us, not sheep. Chele and I decided we needed to find him a female mate. We found an Anatolian Shepherd breeder here in Texas with girls, so we picked Leesie and introduced her to Titan.
Keeping 2 puppies in the pasture was not easy. I now understand the best way to do this was to have the puppies learn from their parents, without this, it’s instinct. Unfortunately, this meant the dogs would wander. Working dogs like to protect the outer perimeter of the property keeping predators from coming in. One morning, I went down to check on the puppies and I could only find Titan. Leesie was missing. We searched everywhere. We went door to door and put flyers in mailboxes. We even put-up signs on telephone poles but did not get results. 3 days went by, and she was still missing. Chele and I were walking down to the barn, looking for Leesie again when we saw a family walking down our road. We asked them if they had seen our dog. They did not answer us, which was strange. They mumbled something in Spanish then I heard one of them say “no habla”. I saw them on their way back down our one-way street and begged them for an answer and one of them scoffed and said, “Have you checked the dog pound?” We did call several of the kennels near us right after Leesie disappeared and none of them reported seeing her. We later learned that Leesie followed the family home one day and they thought she had Parvo. They called Animal Control who oddly picked her up almost immediately. She was taken to a facility south central Austin to be screened for Parvo. It had been less than 72 hours since we lost her, so our hopes were high that we would get her back.
Chele and I went to the animal shelter and found they had released her after treating her for dehydration. She was sent to an adoption clinic less than 24 hours earlier. We went there to find they had already adopted her out. We were devastated. How does this happen? While I am sure this facility does great work for a lot of people and pets, they did not do great by us. I guess the 72 hours hold rule does not apply to all the animals. Good thing there is a part II to this story, until next week.
Deep Thoughts Roses are so beautiful. They can be so many different colours too. (Any SNL watchers here?) With that beauty comes the stem of thorns. They grow with a stem of thorns, not pretty until they bloom. I look at a rose bush every morning sitting at my kitchen table. Some days I see blooms, other days full of beautiful flowers. Sometimes it is empty with no blooms or flowers. Every day there are thorns. You can’t really see them though, you can only feel them, and there are a lot. I can correlate the roses with Chele, that’s easy, but what about the thorns? Is that the cancer? I can't physically see cancer, but I sure can feel it. It has felt like a thorn in my side. Maybe the thorns serve as protection for Chele’s survival right now, making them vital in her journey.
Bushy Daytime "The Great British Bake Off" -reruns (Netflix), “Survivor” (Paramount +)
Primrose Primetime “The Voice” (YouTube TV), “The Morning Show” (Apple TV) Season 3, "The Great British Bake Off" (Netflix), Football
“Thorny Bristle”
The Menu
Roots
THC Gummies
Mandarin Oranges
Pineapple Chunks
Jellybeans
The Rose Pedals
Wild Elk Rice Casserole (★★★★)
Chicken pot pie
Personal Pan Pizza
Chicken Nuggies (★★)
Pulled Pork
Bratwurst
Stems
Mixed Veggies
Carrots
Rice
Tater Tots
Treats
Cake
Love you,
Brian
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