Recovered!

We finally beat jet lag by the end of the weekend. I did some gardening on Saturday, which was difficult due to the sciatica problems. I can kneel for a while, but I can't sit unless I can stretch my leg straight out -- not always a possibility in a garden. I also discovered that I can get a shovel into the dirt and move it, but I can't lift the shovel with dirt on it. Luckily I have a strong gardener's helper for that! I bought some vegetable and herb plants and some flowers on Sunday, so I need to get them in pots and in the ground as soon as possible. I'm hoping to start that task tomorrow before Zometa and finish up most of it before chemo on Friday. Over the weekend I need to enlist Ed's help to continue to move a bunch of plants from the backyard and the side of the garage to the front garden. I've been wanting to get to that for more than a year, and I hope this weekend to finish off the chore.

The pool is now open, and the new solid pool cover did an excellent job of keeping the water clear. There is some debris on the bottom that blew in under the cover, but we usually open our pool to green, yucky water since the previous cover was porous. After a good vacuuming and some chemical additions, we should be ready for summer weather. Unfortunately, we found out that our pump needs to be replaced and we have a crack in one of our return lines. The pump can be taken care of for less than $400 but the crack is going to be an issue and one that the pool guy suggested be taken care of when we replace the liner -- which I was hoping not to do for a few more years since there are no holes in it. I don't even want to think about that bill, but hopefully we can put it off until next year. Maybe the market will be better by then???

While the pool guys were there, Ed discovered a sink hole (or some such thing) under our brick patio. One of the guys stepped on an area of bricks and a hole opened up. That hole is about 18" across and a foot deep, but the more concerning issue is the 8" wide hole about six inches under the bricks that runs...well, we don't know how far it goes yet. Ed has to pull the bricks as far as the hole goes, fill the hole with aggregate, replace the sand, and re-lay the bricks. It's always something, isn't it? I'm guessing ground hog, but we did have a tree stump somewhere under the patio, so it's possible that over the past 11 years, the stump and a large root rotted and the guy just stepped in the wrong spot. Unless we find an opening at the end of the tunnel, I guess we'll never know. One more job to add to Ed's to do list. He's not thrilled.

My cough continues unabated. I've been following Kate's doctor's "do not eat or drink list" fairly consistently since we returned (had ketchup and four slices of tomato one day) and the cough has not improved. At the urging of my husband and one of my dear friends (you know who you are), I made an appointment with a gastroenterologist for June 3. Maybe he can tell me if it's acid reflux or not. Maybe it's a combination of acid reflux and an allergy. I just need to know what it is and resolve it. I'm tired of coughing. And Ed's tired of hearing it, I'm sure. I'm now also trying a saline nasal spray whenever the cough gets going to see what happens. Will let you know.

Otherwise, things are good. As long as I'm not totally crashed from chemo, I'll be seeing some friends at a surprise event this weekend, so I'm very much looking forward to that. Also, it will be a very long weekend for me, so I'm looking forward to sleeping in. Any morning without an alarm is a good morning to me.

Hope this finds you all well and, for those in the U.S., planning fun things for your holiday weekend. I'll be back soon.