43. New Side Effects and EPIC Princess Cake

It's been a week since I wrote and it was busy busy and then recovery for a few days before a new week of chemo begins.

New side effects - stabbing pains in the joints, often where old injuries have been (and most people know how many of THOSE I have). Sometimes I get woken up in the night by the joint pain and then I have to pee cos I'm awake. Last night I actually only woke up once which was nice as it is often three or four times. I also have a general body ache going on a lot of the time. I am used to dealing with pain so it's not overly bad, though the sharp stabbing pains do take me by surprise sometimes. I have also had some weird stabbing hot pains through my surgery scars this last week.

Peripheral Neuropathy - fingers and toes. I have a very slight reduced sensation in the tops of my fingers, sort of like if you have ever put out a candle wick with your fingers and get a little thin film of wax on your skin. You can still feel but it is slightly weird. I also have horizontal white strips on my finger nails, slightly raised. This is normal too. I don't have tingling or numbness in my fingers or toes which is a sign of more advanced symptoms and also something I don't want. If I have trouble holding a pen, doing up buttons, or hand sewing or the like then I need to tell the nurses and they will reduce my dose of chemo. I told them about what I have so far and they said next week we will see if there are any changes for the worse. The symptoms don't want to get too bad as then they might not recover after chemo and can become permanent.

Tiredness - I would say I have a bit more energy at times but then suddenly crash out quickly. Last chemo drugs it was a more pronounced general fatigue whereas this can take me by surprise. It's like my body says "ok, you're done and you need to go lie down and rest now". My concentration starts to go and brain fog takes over.

Tummy - this is better than before. Don't feel hungry but don't have as much aversion to foods and eating. I can also eat a bit more so don't need to have quite so many little meals throughout the day. Still have super sonic sense of smell for some things. Chocolate still tastes like dirt and cardboard. Sweet things still taste like rotten pineapple.

EPIC Princess Cake for Evie's 5th birthday party that was on Saturday. This cake has been in the planning stage for probably the whole time I have been going through chemo. It's gone through a few different idea changes but eventually Evie settled onto a plan. She has 12 little Disney princess dolls that are about 10cm tall, maybe a bit shorter. She wanted to have those incorporated into her cake design, one that she saw on YouTube. They get plastic wrap around their legs and then are stuck into the round cake and get their dresses made out of fondant that cascades down the outside of the cake. So, on Wednesday Ange made the Swiss Buttercream and kept that in the fridge.

Thursday I went down to help bake the cakes. The bottom layer was two (almost) dinner plate sized flourless chocolate cake and the top was two smaller banana cakes which left a lip of about 5cm for the dolls to be stuck into. Between the layers was some buttercream and chopped fresh strawberries. It was a HOT day on Thursday, I think Jon said that the temperature got to 38c. It was a dry heat so it didn't bother me too much. A friend had dropped a little gift at the front door that had a couple of those cool scarf things where you wet them, wring them out, fling them around in the air and then they stay cool for a couple of hours. I put one on my head and it really helped. (Thanks Sue!). For the banana cakes it was a bit of trial and error as the recipe calls for a big sheet pan for the cakes and we were doing little round ones. We also only had one tin so had to bake it twice. We got two cakes and then 5 cupcakes out of the mixture. One of these was used for Evie's candle and the others were eaten by Ange, Evie, Aneira and Zaeli who came over in the afternoon. They approved of the taste so that was good. The kids, Ange and Shell went for a swim and I stayed back and did some work on Procreate and to turn the chocolate cakes halfway through cooking. As it turned out the cakes were actually done at what we thought was halfway so it was a good thing I was going to check if they needed to be turned, otherwise they would've burned or gone too dry. By this time I had gotten to the point where I was tired and needed to drive home. I made it though I could tell my concentration wasn't that good. I got a pizza from Pizza League on the way home (tasted almost like normal, but still slightly bland) and then went to choir. We worked on a piece in Latin we started last year I think. I love singing in Latin.

Friday - back down to Ange's again in the morning. This time it was putting the buttercream on the cakes and assembling them. We put a thin layer on as a 'crumb coat' and put the cakes in the fridge to cool. We went to 2 Sisters cafe in Bulli for lunch - yummy yummy food there. Back home again and this time to do the ombre colour buttercream cover - darker pink down the bottom, lighter pink in middle and white at the top. It worked out quite well and we JUST had enough icing. Cake back in the fridge again. It was another HOT day but not quite as hot as Thursday. When got out all the fondant and then had to mix colours so that they matched the dolls tops. That was very fun to do and pretty much got them very close as well. On top of the cakes was a pink fondant crown. Ange rolled and cut that out so it could set. I rolled some little yellow balls to go on the crown tips. They were covered in gold luster dust. The cake was out again and the dolls pushed in. Mither has come down with me and had spent time getting the legs covered in plastic. A LOT harder than it sounds. Now to make the dresses. That also was a lot harder than we thought. Did a bit of a trial in some brown we had a lot of to see how much would be needed for a skirt. Eventually I did a skirt for Pocahontas out of the tan colour I had mixed, and then the cake went back into the fridge. I was starting to get the tired feeling and knew I had to leave so I would be able to drive back home without feeling like I might be a liability on the roads. I had a rest and then made a couple of crochet frisbees to add to Evie's present.

Saturday - party day. I dressed up as Olaf from Frozen. Figured it was a good way to utilise the bald head into my costume. The cake turned out AMAZING!!!! Ange had finished off all the dresses and skirts and other decorations too. It was truely epic. It was fun seeing people I hadn't seen for a while, even though my joints were really sore. It didn't help that there had been roadwork at Bulli Tops and so for almost 20 mins had been stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on the highway. Having a manual car is not the best in these situations but even worse with stabbing pains in joints. It was hot again but the sea breeze and the cold cloth helped. After the party people were going for a swim. It was tired and so decided to go home. A few hours later Ange sent me a picture to show me that the dress I made Evie fit her perfectly. This morning she sent a video of Evie twirling around in her "new favourites dress".

I didn't do much on Sunday, just a little bit of grocery shopping but mostly I watched either YouTube, Netflix or did a bit of creating on Procreate. I needed to recover from 3 very busy days. Fun days but tiring!

Monday I went and got my blood test and then did early voting at Sutherland. I took the info page from the Greens and said no to the Labour and Liberal people who shoved theirs in my face. I sort of like the slight panic look they get in their eyes. Suddenly a blond lady popped up in front of me, baring my way into the building. It was the labour candidate for our electorate (It's State elections on Saturday). She almost breathlessly rushed through her sentence telling me that she cares about the environment too and that would I consider putting her as number two on my voting preferences. (Preferential voting is optional in NSW State elections - I think it should be mandatory). I told her I would consider it. I asked her "Do you think climate change is a crisis?" She paused for a bit too long and I said "Hesitation is not a good sign". Maybe she was trying to figure out what she should say that went along the Labour party lines and not what she really thinks. It was quite busy inside but I didn't have to wait to get the two voting forms and place my vote. Sorry, Maryanne, you ended up as number 3.

Oh yeah, got my period on Thursday. GAH! However, it was very light and really only lasted a day and a half. I think it did contribute to more body aches and pains as well. Here's hoping that is the last one.