A new week

I got home from work on Saturday night and I was exhausted. Too tired to do much of anything except sit at my computer for awhile and then collapse into bed to watch some tv and fall asleep early. Right now I work Tuesday to Saturday with Sunday/Monday off. Saturdays at work I like to do some housecleaning but man oh man I am having to struggle these days. If it is at all warm outside and I have to do anything strenuous (like sweep the floor!) I get a hot flash and am soaked in sweat. It is really horrible.

I went into menopause early at 42 and I'll be 55 in November. My doctor calls me post menopausal so I was really put out for the longest time that I was still getting hot flashes and night sweats. It just didn't seem right! Now from reading Ron's Hep C forum I am realizing that hot flashes and night sweats are part of Hep C. My main feeling about that is "Damn it all to hell!!" I really hoped it was a menopause symptom that would go away eventually. So many of the symptoms are ambiguous and can be caused by either this or that. Fatigue and major hot flashes are the two things that bother me the most right now.

With Josh moving out in a few weeks there are a few things we are planning on doing. For one we are going to rip out all the carpeting in the livingroom and put down laminate. We have been looking into this for awhile now. The house has a cement foundation but with a dirt floor under the house. No basement just a crawl space. We have two dogs and the people on either side of us have two dogs each. When ever there is neighbourhood excitement of some sort the dogs all run back and forth between the fencelines and bark etc. Well in the summer a huge dust cloud moves across the yards and seeps into the houses and everything is always coated in a fine layer of dust. We are all taking steps to put shrubbery between the yards to try and cut down on the dust which should help somewhat.

Once we get all the carpeting gone and the floor down that should help considerably with the housecleaning and keeping things cleaner. That and getting everything sorted out and into tubs for easy access and storage. Sunday morning we made a tour around to the the various home improvement stores and checked out the cost of laminate and paint. We are going to have to paint the livingroom as well when Josh goes because behind his huge entertainment centre is a tiny section that we couldn't paint last time because we couldn't reach it back there. So............we are thinking of being bold and not quite so conservative..............yeah maybe. Then of course we will have to do a complete sweep through all the rooms and rearrange things. We have had two households crammed in here for the last two years.

We have a plan in place for getting ready for treatment which includes the house but also includes getting into better eating habits and drinking more water and getting more exercise and we are both going to do this together. Yesterday for Father's Day after all the boys had called or been by in the morning and after our trip out to the various home depot like places we decided to take off for the rest of the day. We made a pact back awhile ago that Sunday's are for us. We spend the day doing something together, whether it just be staying at home and watching a movie or working in the backyard or going someplace. It is our one day at home together right now.

We drove into Vancouver and over the Lion's Gate Bridge and over to West Vancouver. We drove along the bottom road and looked at all the beautiful beach front properties and dreamt about winning the lottery lol. We came across Lighthouse Park and stopped there and went for a walk. Notices along the way tell you it's a 10 minute walk down but at least a 25 minute walk back up. We decided to brave it anyway and walked down. Once down there you can't get to the Lighthouse as it is in a protected area but you can get down to the beach or really the rocks. Not much beach but wow it is sure nice to get down and sit on the big rocks and watch the boats and birds and feel the breeze off the water. The smell of seaweed is wonderful!!

After a good rest at the bottom and full water bottles we started the hike back up. There was a baby and a lady with a cane on the way up and I mentally used them to spur me up the damn hill. If the baby and the lady with the cane could make it, I sure as hell could. They have benches all the way up with instructions to take it easy and rest when needed. We only had to rest a few times and I kept that baby and cane lady in view and pushed on as they got close. It was a good walk.

We got to the top and decided to keep heading towards Horseshoe Bay and the Sea to Sky Highway out towards Porteau Cove. It is right on the ocean and is used during the day alot by divers but also has a picnic area and a camping area. We drove through the camping area and got information and pamphlets. I think it would be a great place to camp in the fall when the kids are back in school and it's quiet. Also a great place in a camper during some of the first fall and winter storms. We are going to try it out this fall I hope.

Then we headed to White Rock for fish and chips for dinner. They were so good. The tide was in so no walk out on the sand but we did take a short stroll along the sidewalk that runs along the beach. The breeze was blowing and the gulls were screaming. By then it was getting on to 8pm and time to head for home about half an hour away. We got home and Al has to work today so we went to bed and read and watched tv for awhile and then right off to sleep.

Today I am planning on resting lots. Doing a bit of housework and then heading for the porch swing with my book. The temperature is supposed to hit 29 by this afternoon. Josh is heading out to spend the night in Surrey with his girlfriend so it will be just us tonight :)

Tomorrow starts a new week for me and this week our girls night has been moved to Wednesday and we are going to have it at work. Jude is going to bring her 4 wheeler to work that day and Lynnie and I will take the gator and we'll head over to the back field looking for some wild roses that I want for the back yard. Maybe we can find some other treasures back in there as well. Maybe back to the yard for pizza..........we'll see.

Edit: I've noticed that music is important to many of us. Today I am blasting Sheryl Crowe, Dido, Rob Thomas, Norah Jones and Sarah McLaughlin throughout the house loud enough to rattle the windows and make the dogs run for the back yard!