Got a lot done today -- and a reward, thanks to Jennifer

I had this very productive morning, and the icing on the cake of it was the swim I went for afterwards, which was only possible because of this great idea Jennifer gave me -- tegaderm! I got this nice 6"x6" water resistant tegaderm bandage from CVS ($4 each, but worth it when you're desperate....) and put it on my chest burn with some of the radiation onc's miracle burn gel, put some vaseline* on the burn under my armpit (which is dark and hurts to lie on but is scaly, not raw,) got into the water and took the shoulder strap off......and I was off! Plus, I was fast, because I was late! (*The vaseline was Barry's idea. What would I do without you guys????)

But lemme back up, because I'm kinda proud of the other stuff I managed to fit into this morning...... I mean, I earned that swim. Okay, so first I went to radiation, as always. I went by car today, though, because I had a job scheduled for afterwards, my first since July. Basically I had emailed my agency and said, I'm fine but I'm so booked with this treatment stuff.... if you guys can find me a job I can fit into my schedule I'd love one. Well it turns out someone had requested me..... at 9:50am in Annandale, which is on the other side of home from Georgetown..... Google said it was a 13 min drive, but I figured given that part of that was in DC, which is prone to traffic jams....

Anyway I offered Matthew a ride to school, since his school is basically on the way to Georgetown. We left at a little after 8, I dropped him at 8:15, got to G-town at 8:30, got to radiation at 8:37 (I park on the street, a few blocks away, because I'm not doing their crowded parking lot and paying for it too) and then I hit a roadblock..... My appointments are at 8:50, but sometimes I can get seen earlier if I get there earlier.... sometimes. Not today. Okay. But when it got to be 9 and I hadn't been called...... and then they called someone else instead... (She has the 8:40 slot, but we all had to wait for someone who they were taking a long time on today. Luckily the 8:40 woman offered to trade with me so I could make it to work.... whew!) SO basically Georgetown used up all my buffer time (thank goodness there was no traffic) and I only just made it to the appointment on time. (The patient arrived a couple of minutes after me -- this was a medical appointment I was interpreting for -- so I got away with it. Timeliness is a virtue in my present line of work, and one of my biggest challenges.)

The job was great, the patient made sure to make her next two follow-ups for when I can come, and I was on the road at 11:05.

OOPS! It was supposed to be a 45 min appointment, done at 10:35, and I had a dental appointment at 11:00 for myself. Called the dentist's at a red light and they said they would still see me 20 mins late. Then I drove like a bat out of hell to make it there only 20 mins late. COurse they made me wait then -- probably saw the next patient first. I had just decided to start eating my lunch when they called me..... they had to give me a toothbrush before they could see me......

I wasn't planning to go swimming. I had brought my pool bag and the tegaderm just in case.... and they had given me a new tube of miracle gel too..... I guess I hadn't completely given up on the idea. I had been thinking I could work out at home on the elliptical, but then the dog would give me the look -- and indeed she'd only been out to pee once at 6:20am (I know, I know) so she'd be in her rights. SO I could have taken her for a good hill walk. That was the amended plan. But you know, i did that yesterday (okay, that was only half of a good hill walk, but the scenery is the same, or close.) I like the stretching and toning from swimming, especially since the surgery. It pulls out the biking kinks, too. Keeps the muscles happy.....

So I was paying the dental secretary at 12:30, thinking what I was going to do. The pool swim only goes until 1:30, and I do a mile in 45 mins... and I still had to pay, get to my car, drive to the pool, change clothes, put on the tegaderm bandage, which I had never used before..... and OH YEAH get a quick bite to eat in there somewhere or I'd run out of blood sugar while swimming, which is NOT PLEASANT. (Can't stop for a snack when you're in the pool..... even harder than on the bike.) Maybe I chose swimming because fitting it into the time I had was a challenge.

So I did. Better, I did the WHOLE MILE. I did it in, I don't know, 35-38 minutes**, because I had to get the time to do all that stuff from SOMEwhere. It's a success, to be able to swim my mile in less time when I have to. (I have always been able to except some of the time when I was on chemo -- I think mostly at the end there. And I've hardly ever been able to swim a mile in under 45 mins under any circumstances other than being late.... sometimes when I'm really relaxed I take 50! Like when the pool is overheated -- I keep forgetting I'm not in the bath.) **This time I'm not sure how long it really took because I had a lot of leaky goggle trouble & kept having to stop and fix them......

The tegaderm worked so great I dried it off and left it on, and when I got home I peeled up a corner and put some more gel in, rather than using a clumsy gauze pad. We will see if the doc thinks it's doing all right when I see him on Thursday. He did look at it today and said it was improved, which I thought, too. I don't think the swimming puts me at a major risk for infection, especially given all my precautions, but I do think being in the chlorinated water for 45 mins is hard on the burned skin. Right now it feels better under the tegadermed spot than under the arm -- but all of it is doing all right. I think that stuff works really well.