March 1, 2018
Yesterday was the big day for starting my consolidation. I got to the hospital at 8:00 am as requested and had my reunion with the nurses that took care of me for the first 30 days I was there. They are all good people and it was nice to talk to them, but I still did not really want to be there. I would have preferred to meet them in a bar.
When you are in the hospital they just have their routine down to a science, but part of that routine is to bug you all the time. There is someone coming in and out of the room all the time, all be it with good intentions. One nurse comes by to check your pic line, next nurse wants to take your vitals, room service calls to find out if you want food, doctor comes by to see if you have any questions and so on.
Long story short is I got my two rounds of chemo yesterday and left the hospital this morning around 10am to come home. The only side effect today is it feels like I have had too much caffeine (I have had none). My body feels like it is buzzing or vibrating. Don't know how else to describe it. I go back in a couple more times this week and then off for two weeks. I will keeep you posted.
From the home front, I have a new part time job doing battle with sugar ants. It is my personal mission to allow no admittance to my home but they are a worthy adversaries. Sugar ants don't really pose the same problem that carpenter ants do but no one likes insects in their house. I've had the ladder out, flashlight out trying to track their entrance point, chemicals, rubber gloves the works. I have several hours into this fight, but I am currently winning. The problem is they never take a day off so I think they will try again. If any of you have advice for ant fight, please let me know.
Hope you are all doing well.
Comments (10)
Kevin...are you sure they didn't slip a bit of vodka into the chemo?! As for the ants...I've always been one to call in the experts (The Bugman), but I'd much rather get your personal updates from the battlefront. Shy of that, I've always been a big fan of squishing them! But that only seems to make them multiply. Keep up the good work...on all fronts!
Terro! I'm battling the same thing and they are gone within 3 days. I also have Croach which seems to be a service I overpay for every 90 days if I still have these stupid ants. Anyway - I feel you pain in this department and understand your personal mission. Maybe use up that energy on some long walks if you can? Thinking of you every day!!
Kevin, glad to hear you are only at the hospital 2 hours for the last treatment. Hospitals are not a healthy place to hang if you have any choice at all. The buzz and vibrating is probably just your anxiety for getting on with your life. For the ants, I have had them at every property I have ever owned. The easiest and most effective for me has been Home Guard right off the shelf at Home Depot. You build a barrier with it by treating the foundation and maybe the first few inches of the siding. It does not stain and it will hold them back for maybe 6 months till you need to do it again. You are so out numbered in this battle. I do not know of a permanent solution. Frank
Please avoid chemicals. You are battling cancer! Google DIY fire ant killer. There is a shit load of information there. If you can find the nest you are better off but you can still get rid of them . Good luck.
Good luck with the sugar ants! That's a project that will provide unfortunately endless entertainment ;)
You know you're doing well when you're going through your chemo and you're posting about battling sugar ants. I want to say my dad back in the day got mini bowls of sugar and placed them strategically around the house where he thought the little buggers were infiltrating. Once he honed in 'em, he would get a can of hairspray and a lighter and then ...(I'm kidding). After he found out where they were concentrated, he'd call the exterminator to get some NAPOM and annihilate them! Good Luck!
Well, one chemo treatment down and only a couple to go. As far as the buzzing and vibration juice, can we bottle and sell that stuff? We could put Starbucks out of business:) I agree with Brian, reroute the ants to another location. Once the ants have gotten comfortable with their new digs, have your sniper unit take them out! So good to see your posts Kevin, keep up the great work fighting the fight. Janine
Glad to hear things are going well for you and you also have the energy to battle the ants! Remember to save some of that energy ..... don't go too crazy! REST I hate any kind of bug in my house and ants are such a nuisance! I can't remember what we used but it was something highly recommended (safe for pets) that we squirted all around the perimeter of our house and it worked..... for a while :-) Hope to see you soon!!
Another vote for Terro from me. Put a puddle about the size of a quarter on a little square of aluminum foil, and put that next to the traffic lane. They will swarm it and take it back to the nest to feed to the others. Sometimes it is all gone in a couple of hours and you need to dribble out some more. No worries for you unless you decide to taste it because it looks a little like Karo syrup. Wait until your immune system is back up to snuff to do that.