Rain, rain go away

Last night was not as bad as I predicted it to be. Nick did wake up around 10PM coughing so hard and it was a cough that he couldn't get a breath in on - I ran upstairs and sat him up just in time for him to start throwing up. Luckily he is not as fast of a vomiter as Ellie and I was able to grab the garbage can before the second round came. I heard Rob and Ellie come in just as I was trying to get Nick into new pjs and take the top blanket off his bed. I got Nick settled again and it only took a couple songs to get him to drift back to sleep. Rob got Ellie to sleep and we met up on the couch but only for minutes because Nick's coughing persisted and I decided I should be closer to him in case he started coughing uncontrollably again and didn't manage to sit up to vomit. Wow, an entire night in bed - strange thing. Other than a couple coughs Nick slept peaceful the rest of the night and came in for warmth around 5AM. Our bed was entirely too hot for me though - I put on an extra blanket last night and it is just too much heat. We all slept in this morning - even Ellie didn't wake up until 8:30AM.
We had a laid back morning - we ate breakfast, we watched Flushed Away because Nick is very interested in where things go when they go down the drain. Rob went to do some work at the GGs but was back in time for lunch. The kids and I worked on their holiday cards to their friends and family. I got almost all our Christmas cards stuffed and addressed - I opted not to include messages this year because Christmas time just doesn't seem like the right time to do the year in review cancer conversation. I, apparently, already confused people last year that I may be divorced because my return address labels only had "Hazard" on them. Christi and I had made plans to try to run out this afternoon for some Christmas shopping. We cleaned up the basement a little bit and Rob and Nick went to work on making and installing some hooks for all the kids dress up hats - it looks so nice. Christi gave me a call to let me know she was home and I went over to pick her up.
We were nutty enough to try Old Orchard but were able to find a covered parking spot about 5 spaces from the entrance. Our mission was stocking suffers for her kids - I was just along for the run and for some friend time. We ended up finding great sales at Bath and Body Works and were able to get something for each of the kids. Christi found an old fashioned wooden ruler at Restoration Hardware and then Christi introduced me to Anthropologie - never been and so much fun stuff. We probably spent 45 minutes there looking around and deciding how practical vs impractical things were - lots of glass in that store. Christi was able to get books for the kids there and we were inspired by some crafty ideas when life is less busy. We came home and thankfully it was still just raining and warm and the weather hadn't changed yet.
I was a bit nauseous when I got home - I don't think has any chemo baring I think it was all the scents at the stores - they all have candles burning and festive scents infused in the air and I think it made me feel a bit queasy - thankfully food solved that. When we were going through what we should have for dinner Ellie zeroed in on chicken strips from Wing Stop. When Ellie and I took pottery together that was a dinner probably once a month but we haven't had food from there in over a year or so - it provided something for everyone.
After dinner we got pjs on and just had some relax time before bed - Ellie spent some time preparing for church tomorrow - she will be reading one of the readings - very exciting - is it weird to send a video camera with Rob to church service? Rob got Nick to sleep, although sleep was the last thing on Nick's mind. Ellie went up to bed soon after and then Rob went to a co-workers holiday party for a bit. I took a couple minutes to do some more cyber shopping - I think I am almost done now. I called Mom to see if it was ok that Ellie comes over after church tomorrow to help them decorate their Christmas tree. I wrote my dear friend Julie a couple emails to attempt to send some cheer her way.
I can now officially say - infusion 2 - done, check with very minimal side effects. Maybe Dr. Marsh was actually telling the truth about this phase when he said this was the easy phase. I still have tingly fingers and have "hot flashes" I alternate (quickly) between the need for blankets to the need for coolness - Mom has the synergy effect and is also suffering through these effects with me. I have some lower back/hip bone pain today but seriously nothing like the first time. Chemo brain seems to come and go - I couldn't for the life of me think of the word for the fridge tonight when I was asking Ellie to put something into it and I finally just said the big white thing that keeps our food cold. Final note of the night - I realized recently that I only own winter shoes - no boots and I thought about buying some today with the impending snow storm we are supposed to be getting but I though that maybe if I don't own boots it won't snow enough that I will need them - I'll let you know how that turns out. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal me - whomever that shall be, Tree