Peter and Emmie left for Michigan on the train on Friday, leaving me all alone for the next week-ish. So far, I have not been the most productive person in the world with my time, but it’s been good. I’ve been sleeping… a LOT. It’s been lovely. I’ve slept in, slept all night, and napped, multiple times.

When Peter and Emmie are here, I’m sure I’m sleep deprived on most days, but at least I get things done. Emmie wakes me up at a reasonable hour (7-8), and even if I take things easy, I’m up and active for most of the day. Without my little ball of energy, I’m sleeping in until 10 or later (what!), napping in the afternoon, and generally feeling a little unmotivated.

I will add one caveat: I realized this afternoon that today was a “patch day.” I use Fentanyl patches to help control my pain, and they need to be switched out every 2-3 days. I’ve come to notice that I am usually a little more tired on my last day of the patch, and this is especially true if I forget to replace the patches right after my shower (which I did manage to do today, although it thankfully was not a long enough period for any withdrawal stuff to set in). Hopefully, tomorrow might be a little bit better day for me.

Speaking of tomorrow… It’s another Keytruda day! It’s so funny how quickly each set of 3 weeks seems to pass. It used to feel like forever in between infusions, but now it’s like the blink of an eye. I’m not nearly as freaked out by infusions as I used to be, thanks to my awesome port.

Trick: get the lidocaine gel (they will prescribe it for you), put it on at least 30 minutes before (the gel LIES and says you only need 3-5 minutes. LIES), and put it on super thick. Like, it should be pretty much dripping off you. You can use a big bandage to cover it and help the gel from dripping too much, or you can use the little applicator thing they include to keep pushing it back up. Wearing a shirt that has a scoop-neck or other open top is helpful too, so you don’t get gunk on your clothes. Doing all of this helped my last poke to be literally painless! The nurses said that sometimes it just takes the edge off, but I think it’s absolutely worth a try!

So anyway, I’m on my own. Whenever I have this kind of time, I always revert to the “single me.” I eat bagels, usually at random times, I am reading some great books, and hanging out with wonderful friends. Also, binging on Gilmore Girls.

I have a long list of things I’m hoping to get done with this free time, so hopefully I can be a little more motivated in the coming days!