Lunch, Lunch, and More Lunch

Hi Everyone, We have been so busy this past week. I know I wrote last time about going to lunch with our friend, Lisa on Monday. Well, it didn't stop there. All I know is Lauren and I could have full time jobs going to lunch!!

Gio did not feel well from the beginning of the week, so Lauren told him just to stay home until he felt better. The last thing she needs right now is to get sick. I am happy to report that by Friday he was feeling much better.

Mark had his day off on Wednesday and he and Lauren went to Sam's Club and to lunch at Rockne's. Lauren brought home almost her whole lunch because she hasn't had much of an appetite lately and has been getting nauseous a lot too. When she first got up on Wed., which was the last day for her to take her Xeloda for this 2 week period, her feet were so red and she felt bad. She tried to eat some scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast and threw up. I e-mailed Dr. Zalupski and said she was not going to take her last dose of Xeloda because it seemed like she couldn't handle it. He e-mailed me back and said that was fine and we probably should have stopped it sooner. Since then, her feet have gotten better, but she has still been nauseous.

I had to go grocery shopping on Thurs., so I asked Lauren if she wanted to come with me. Ryan came home from his class and we aske him to join us. I took them to lunch at Olive Garden because they have a really good soup and salad lunch that is really inexpensive. It was nice to get to do something with Ryan because he is usually working, going to school, or with friends or Stephanie. Here are a few pics of us at lunch.

Ryan really chowed down and ate a ton. I ate a regular amount. Lauren could barely eat anything. She thinks she is hungry, but fills up so fast. I really worry about her. After lunch we went shopping at Aldi. When I went to pay with my debit card, I realized I left it at Olive Garden. I remained calm and Lauren had cash to cover the bill. I later repaid her at home. We went back to Olive Garden and sure enough, they had my card. The reason I am telling you this is that before I was on medication for depression and anxiety I would have totally gone bonkers about losing my card. I calmly took it in stride and everything was fine. How wonderful it is to be calm. We then went to Walmart to get Halloween candy. Lauren is going to take a bucketful to Dr. Zalupski and his nurses. She did this last year and they still talk about it!! It was a really fun day.

Lauren and I went to Mark's store in Kent on Friday. My Mom and Dad came down from Port Clinton to get new tires for their car and my Dad had his 62nd high school class reunion that night in Wadsworth. Guess what else they wanted to do? Yep, go to lunch. We sat at Mark's store for a long time, visited, and waited for the car to be done. We all went to Mike's Place in Kent for lunch. we were happy Mark could come too. He rarely if ever leaves his store. We got to see one of Mark's bosses, Bruce as we were leaving for lunch. He is the one we call Sugar Daddy because he always does nice things for Lauren and even let her use his T-Bird for a weekend. We didn't eat lunch until mid afternoon. I hope my Mom and Dad could eat their dinner at the reunion. They eat such small amounts anymore. They split a plate of sliders and were stuffed. Here is a pic from  lunch.

Well, guess what we did on Saturday? I am not even kidding. This one had been in the plans for quite some time. Our friend, Kris from neat Philly, Pa. was visiting a friend near the Youngstown border. I met her through the Cholangiocarcinoma.org website and Lauren, Lisa, and I are friends with her on Facebook. She has the same cancer as Lauren and Lisa have. We met for lunch at a Cracker Barrel in Rootstown. We had the best time together. Kris came with her friend, Lorraine and they met a lady that I think was Lorraine's aunt. Lorraine and her Aunt sat at the table right next to us so they could visit . They were both very sweet as well. Here are some pics.

Lauren was so exhausted after this week of lunching. She fell asleep early Sat. night, slept all day Sunday and didn't feel good on Sunday. She felt very nauseous after breakfast and barely ate anything but some of my chicken rice soup that I had made and froze. She was in her bed all day and went to bed early. Gio had to go to bocce by himself and came back in the evening. We were supposed to meet our breakfast gang this morning and Lauren said last night. Mom, I can't do one more thing. I am so exhausted that I need to stay home and rest. I texted my friend, Dawn last night and told her we weren't coming. They all understand and we will try to make it next time. It is already time to go back to Michigan on Wed. Please keep our CC friends and Lauren in your prayers. So many are not doing well at this time. Thank you for reading this blog and I will talk to you next week.  Love, -Pam