This has been the greatest day since having my first chemo treatment.  I felt really good, and decided to just "go with it."  But first, I have to talk about Tuesday night, and my second experience with the Mystic Tan Spray tanning machine.

I wanted to get another tan, and even though I didn't feel that great, decided to go.  When I got there, I let My girl at the counter know about my feet, and how I had the darkened soles...she sold me a pair of paper stick-on booties for 75 cents, I got ready, lathered up with the white barrier cream (cream you put on areas you don't want to tan, like the palm of your hands and sides of your feet), and entered the booth.  A spray tan consists of you standing in four different positions, and a little brush kind of airbrushes your body, from bottom to top.  It's a little "whish-whish" feel, but when the spray got past my knees, to my thighs, it made a giant "sploosh" sound, and nailed my crotch with a super blast of tanning liquid...and then the machine died.  I stood there, dripping down my legs, and knew the little voice, guiding me through the positions, wasn't going to come back on.

"Hello!" I yelled, knocking on my door.  "I think my machine just died!"  My girl came to the door, brought me a towel, and told me to get dressed.  She had to tear the machine apart, clean it, reset it, and asked me if I wanted to try it again.  The whole thing probably took about 10 minutes, but it felt like an hour.  I told her yes, I definitely wanted to do it, I was already there.  She thought about it for a minute, then said, "I don't think you'll be much darker on the bottom half than the top half."  WTH???  I didn't even think of THAT!  I got back in, did my thing, the machine worked perfectly, and went home, worrying about having darker front legs.  The next day I noticed stains around the sides of my feet...probably from the pooling drips that ran down my legs...definitely not a great look. Anyway, the need for the golden glow, right? :)

Yesterday I woke up and felt considerably better than the day before, and I talked Steve into going to the casino with me.  Granted, it was noon,  on a Wednesday, and when I told him my idea, he suggested we go "sometime later in the week." I simply said "I feel good right now and have no idea when I'll feel ok enough to try again.  Let's go NOW!."  So we went.

Every time we go to Firekeeper's Casino, I drive there, and Steve drives back.  It's been our routine since the place opened, and I thought it would be good to go for a ride and get a change of scenery.  I felt, I'd say, on a scale of 1-10, about a 6 and 1/2.  But, you have to understand, the day before was about a 5, Monday was about a 4, and let's not even talk about last weekend ever again... So, my 6 1/2 self drove us to the casino.  I felt the ride wearing on me, and when we arrived, I sat down at a new machine I wanted to try...I'd seen it pictured in the FK Facebook page...SPHINX 3d.  Right away, the reels made me dizzy.  "Do you think that's the right machine for you to be sitting at?" Steve asked me.  I found a dial to turn off the 3d effect...it was immediate relief to my equilibrium.  We played different games, and I noticed Steve was hovering.  I let him know he could go and do his own thing...like we always do...he still seemed reluctant to leave me, but gave me his general location and stopped lurking over my shoulder, like he was waiting for me to fall off a stool at any second.

I wandered down one row, found some new machines, but realized my "migraine aura " vision was on full blast in the casino.  If I try to explain it to someone who has never had aura, it's like everything in my vision tunnels straight ahead, the light dims, and there is a pressure in the sides of the head like where the peripheral vision was stripped away...it's uncomfortable, my left eye also gets a little blurry, and it feels a little like I'm drunk, with cloudy vision.  But that little inconvenience was not going to ruin MY time away from home.  I've taught a classroom full of students with such an ailment...it certainly wasn't going to stop me from having fun.  :). However.... It became obvious, even to me, the "casino energizer bunny," who keeps going, and going, and going, long after everyone is ready to go home, that it was time to leave.  I think Steve was shocked.  "Kim, we don't have to leave.  I can just watch you."  No, I needed to get out of there.

The ride home was excruciating.... I felt dizzy, nauseous, and just needed to be HOME!  However, I wanted to get Drake a new taillight for his car, so we stopped by the salvage yard and for $65 got my son's car fixed up, good as new.  However, that extra time killed me, and by the time we got home, I
took a nausea pill, laid down, and just hoped that the room would stop spinning shortly.  It did, and I took a migraine pill, a bath, and relaxed for the rest of the night.  I woke up and felt great.

I've learned that many of my aura-like effects may be due to my anti-nausea med...compazine.  When I researched the drug online, I learned that it is actually an anti-psychotic drug, generally used for the treatment of schizophrenia.  "Well, that's just great.  Maybe during this whole cancer ordeal, I won't talk to myself!"  Gotta see the humor in these multi-use drugs.  When I called the triage nurse, Sue, to complain about that particular med, I thought she'd get me switched to a different anti-nausea...instead, she called back to let me know I had a new drug added, to combat the side effects of the compazine.  "Holy crap!"  I thought.  And the drug prescribed is actually a mood stabilizer drug, used to treat depression.  Well, if I wasn't depressed, or psychotic, or nauseous before this whole ordeal, at least I wouldn't be DURING it.  Sometimes you just gotta laugh.