In-Between Week in These Foolish Things

Been nearly a week since I last updated. I wish I had exciting stuff to tell you, but it’s kinda been one of those weeks that have been almost like before times:

• Hardly anyone is wearing masks in the office anymore or really, anyplace. I’m still wearing my mask in meetings because I kind of want people to keep their distance. Not really sure if it works, but nobody besides ex-Boss has said anything to me about it. Yeah, leave it to ex-Boss to say something asshole-ish. During a goodbye event for one of the two engineers retiring this month, I decided to distance myself from the crowd and sit in an area by myself, with my mask on. Ex-Boss comes over and starts asking all kinds of questions - “Why are you sitting by yourself? Why are you still wearing your mask?” I told him that in my condition (he KNOWS all about it!!), that I want to keep social distance (he was also standing very close to me). Then he said, “Well, aren’t you done with your treatment? I heard you had your port taken out.” And that goes to show how much the dude even listens to detail or cares. Yes, there was a person in the office who had her chemo port taken out, but it wasn’t me!! And this other person has been done with her treatment for two years, so it’s not like you get your port taken out as soon as you’re done with chemo. I know he doesn’t know these things - not a lot of people do, but NO. I am not done with treatment, dude. Back off.

• Today, the engineer I work closest with is retiring. We are having a lunch for him at a nearby Mexican restaurant, which is nice, but no way to distance. I’ll take my chances again I guess. There’s going to be a whole lot of this chance-taking over the summer. I just somehow have got to figure out how to keep myself safe. How did people going through chemo do this before covid anyway? Luckily, so far my white blood cells have been at good levels to keep me from getting sick. If I find out at my next infusion that my WBC are reduced, I’ll start staying farther away from people. I already avoid crowded places - haven’t been in a crowd since covid started, but it’s getting harder and harder, isn’t it?

• I have an afternoon date with the Cyclist tomorrow. He’s been in Florida visiting his dad with his daughters this whole week. He’s been keeping in touch with me every day with little texts here and there. He set up a date for Saturday - originally wanting to start out in a cute area of town for lunch, hit galleries and museums and then take me to dinner with one of his daughters! I was like, whoa....that’s a LOT. Didn’t really use those words, but he understood that he was overzealous with the plans. We’ve taken it down several notches to lunch/brunch and that’s good with me. I was just kind of shocked that he was already ready to introduce me to one of his daughters. Granted, she’s an adult, and it was nice to offer, but I was thrown off by that. Anyway. I’ll stop reading into things. I just want to get to know him better - not ready to meet the fam!

• The packing for my upcoming move is really slow going. I’m too tired to pack after I get home from work, eat dinner and walk the dog. I have got to step it up this weekend! It’s my feel-good weekend (instead of recovery weekend), and I want to take full advantage of feeling good! Next weekend might be tougher after chemo round #7. I can’t believe I’m moving in less than a month!

That’s about it for now. Gotta get rolling on work emergencies now…

Happy Friday,
GS