SCVNGR

Yesterday I went to hang out with a friend for a bit in the morning and then came home to find a card from my Aunt Bev in the mail.  Inside she had written a sweet note and sent $20 that she designated for "eyeliner, mascara, or ice cream."

Now, I must confess Aunt Bev... I broke the rules.

Isaac and I hadn't been out to eat in a while so we decided on Joe's Crab Shack and I though that crab nachos sounded yummier than ice cream.  They're so crunch and delicious--plus, they're smothered in crab meat, black bean and corn salsa, cheese, lettuce, and pico de gallo.  Heavenly.  I'd been craving them for a while, and thus donated my $20 toward our night out.

My yummy crab nachos!!!

While Isaac was getting ready for our date, I was searching for coupons on the internet, because although we had $20 toward our night out, coupons are always cool.  It turns out that Joe's works with an app called SCVNGR, where you earn points by taking pictures and commenting on things and then redeeming your points for coupons at Joe's.

For instance, upon arriving, you can "check in."  You've just earned one point.  If you're there with friends, you can "bump in," (tapping your phone against any SCVNGR friend's phone) and you both earn two points per person present.  Taking a picture of the building earns you another couple points, and commenting on your favorite combos and which type of crab legs you prefer, etc... can earn you even more points.  There are also additional "challenges" where you can earn more points.

One of these was taking a picture of your server.

The average person who had done this challenge shot a picture of their server while they were across the room; it's sneaky and discreet.  Instead of joining the ranks of other NORMAL people, my husband decided to play creeper.

Our server, Eryn, had just come up to our table and before she even had a chance to say anything, he held his phone up and said, "Can I get a picture of you?"

You should have seen the look on her face.  It was a mixture of confusion, mild entertainment, and a lot of just plain being creeped out.  I can't say that I blame her.  While I was absorbing her shock, Isaac, blind to her facial expression, held his phone up, leveled it, and snapped a shot.

The poor girl.  She stared at him for a second and then said, "Uh, can I ask what that's for?"  Instead of explaining he just mumbled something along the lines of, "It's for a scavenger hunt."

She nodded, probably still confused, and walked away after checking on our drinks.

I started laughing horrendously at the whole situation, remembering my own odd moments with customers at the B-Bops drive through window.  Isaac didn't seem to understand why I was laughing so I told him that she probably thought he was a creeper.

Thankfully she came back to our table later in the night and he ended up explaining a little more thoroughly what he was talking about.  The experience ended up getting us enough points to get a free appetizer, which was a good deal since I'd chosen to eat them as my meal anyway.

While browsing the challenges, I saw another "challenge" that I thought my brother would love.

Joe's serves a drink called a Sharkbite and whenever someone orders it, a server will call out, "Everyone out of the water, there's a shark!"  This particular challenge called for the customer to jump up, stand on their chair, and scream "SHARK!" while pretending there was a shark swimming somewhere in the floor.

I was kind of hoping that someone else in the building had the app and was planning on doing it, because although I think it would be entertaining to see, I'm not crazy enough to do it myself.

My brother, on the other hand, would probably do it without any reward of any type.

All in all, we came out pretty good.  We got a free entree and $20 of our bill was covered by Aunt Bev... I'd say that's a wheel of a deal!

So... This Is Awkward...

I have been hanging around all day today waiting to poop.

Yes, poop.

This is a rather uncomfortable side effect of the anti-nausea drugs... I've been constipated since chemo and have been using stool softeners, but they really haven't done all that much.

Trust me--I've been doing my part to get thing rolling, but fiber, excessive amounts of water, crunches, and gentle punches to the stomach just aren't cutting it.  I've eaten oily foods, curled up in the fetal position for hours, and Googled more home-remedies for my situation than I care to admit.

I think I've gone to the bathroom six or seven times today and NONE of those times has resulted in a glorious log.  Just liquids...

Today I begged Isaac for a laxative.  We settled on milk of magnesia.

Five hours later I'm wishing we would have just gone hardcore and grabbed something that just cleaned me out--or maybe signed me up for a colonoscopy.  As it were, I am still impatiently waiting for the moment when I have to scramble to make it to the ladies' room in time.  

It can't come soon enough.

Thank You Seems So Small...

I think it's more than fair to say that I have undervalued many people in my life over the years.  Although it's somewhat cliche to say that something like cancer makes you think about what is really valuable, its very true.

It's really hard to put into words what kind of shift has happened in my mind over the past few months.  My schedule used to be so jammed packed of "stuff" that I had to do that I didn't have very much time for the people in my life.  Granted, some of this "stuff" might have had value, but for the most part it was relatively worthless.

Today I got to spend some precious time with one of my closest friends, Meg.  Her and her husband, Nate, traveled a few HOURS out of their way to visit us on their trek from Philly to Iowa.  That in itself is touching to me because honestly, months back, I'm not sure I would have done the same.  I would have justified it to myself by reminding myself how "busy" I was and how much I "had to get done."

What a bunch of bull.  I have really been a miserable friend to a lot of people.

On top of driving out of their way, Meg had a gift for me when she got here.  Some time after my diagnosis she had started a group on Facebook to raise money for a wig for me.  Alongside the money were letters from people I love.  Some were short, others were long.  Each one was like a hug from home.

This is the second gift that we've received like this.  Unexpected.  Gracious.  Heartfelt.

The other was from my cousins--Cody and Cortney.  This was their first year of having a charity fundraiser for Cody's birthday and after hearing my diagnosis, decided they money raised would go to us so we could still have a mini-honeymoon somewhere close to home--and the hospitals.  Because Isaac had to be back for school immediately after the wedding, we'd been planning on going somewhere in August... but after finding out I had cancer, we postponed everything.

It could have been five dollars and I still would have bawled.

As it is, I'm still much too... too something (I don't know what)... to let people to see me cry and so both times, I waited until I was alone to do it.  I don't know, maybe it helps me pretend that things are better than they are... I really don't know.  It's hard to understand your own mind sometimes.

Anyway, my mascara is all over my face and my tears are finally slowing down and I want you to know the purpose of today's post is just to say thank you.

Thank you for loving us.  Thank you for seeing us through compassionate eyes, supporting us, praying for us, hugging us, and just being there for us.  Thank you for saying something, even if you don't feel it's adequate and for listening (or pretending) when you don't feel you have the time.

The word "grateful" really does a measly job at describing the emotional aspect of what I'm feeling right now.  Just know we are thankful.

This is A First

Along with many other "first" experiences that chemotherapy has provided, I can now add to the list a "head/stomach disconnect," meaning, I can no longer tell when I'm hungry.  I would have never thought this would be an issue.

In my pre-cancerous days, it was no big deal for me to sit down and eat at least four to six times a day.  I made sure it was healthy (for the most part), but I just really enjoy eating.

However, since second round of chemo, I have discovered that my brain no longer registers when my stomach is hungry.  I don't get that hungry feeling--very rarely do I even hear it growl.  All of the sudden, I'll just be completely sick to my stomach.

After the first day of this, around midnight, Isaac thought to ask me if I'd eaten anything.  Yes, I believe I had, I told him.  He proceeded to ask what exactly I'd eaten.  To my disbelief, I could only recall a taco and two slices of ham..... but I didn't feel hungry, I only had this sharp pain in my stomach.  If food was the problem, I should have FELT hungry before getting these pains. ...right?

I tried eating and I did seem to feel better for a couple of hours.  Then the pains were back again.  It took a few times of doing this for me to understand that my hormones were so off-whack that my body could no longer signal to me when was the appropriate time to eat.  Ridiculous.

So now, like a newborn babe, I have to set a timer for when I need to eat next.

I guess it just goes to show how fickle your body can be.