Ickiness and Weight Loss

February 27, 2026

This whole insomnia thing is horrible. After my Xanax yesterday, I felt so foggy, had a dry mouth, and some hoarseness. I placed a next day delivery of several supplements (remember, I prefer holistic – EmercenC, Zicam, and facemasks) to help shorten a cold because I don’t want to get sick and have my surgery pushed back. After talking with Dylan, he said that Xanax causes fogginess and memory loss. Ugh, off to “The Google Machine” and he’s absolutely right! 

I had a flashback to the day of my oncology visit and I asked Dylan when he picked me up at the door if he was in the room when the nurse and I were discussing how operating room cases are scheduled. I mean, I did it for 10-years and worked at four different hospitals within the health system so I’m pretty sure I know how it works! I remember a conversation WITH Dylan while the nurse was looking for available days making sure my genetic testing was back PRIOR to surgery.

My memory has always been pretty good, not eidetic, but seemingly better than average and I attributed this forgetfulness to stress. Turns out it may be my new BFF, Xanax.

I spent some time working on building my blog site after work this morning before I got frustrated and threw in the towel. Usually I’m comfortable with technology in general, and can figure out any program, but this brain numbness and inability to completely focus is wreaking havoc in so many areas of my day-to-day life.

My handsome black panther did get his birthday balloons. He’s leery of them but my old lady kitty is absolutely terrified of them! After seeing her hesitation and abject terror when she saw them in the living room, I remembered having brought similar balloons home from work at the hospital one Valentine’s day, and she reacted similarly. And to be honest I only remember because I had posted it on Facebook and it had just come across in my “memories”. 

I found a power lift recliner on Amazon for the same price as the one that I saw at Menards but this one is fabric.

I can’t see buying pleather when I have two cats with razor blades on their feet! Even if they don’t actually use the furniture to sharpen claws, they still have them and will scratch, rip, or puncture the pleather when they jump up or down. Tasha is 14 this year and is having problems just jumping on my bed. She has steadily pulled threads on my fitted sheet when she jumps up. I guess I need to add pet stairs to my Amazon list. 

Anyway, I want to be sure I have the chair before the surgery because it’ll come in pieces and I’ll need to assemble it beforehand. It’s expected to arrive as early as Thursday, March 5th. I need to thoroughly vacuum and rearrange furniture. While I’m at it, I’ll arrange the snack/med cabinet as well. Because Dylan will need to be away from me to sleep, run errands, pick up groceries or food, or just “get away” I need to have stuff close at hand. 

Yes Dylan, could, would, and may still, assemble the chair, but he knows that I like to do it myself. When the free-standing TV stand arrived, I put it together but I still need to pick up a TV.

Would you believe I don’t have one!?! There is one in the house but Dylan uses it in his room. If, on the very rare occasions, I feel like I want to watch TV, I break out my laptop and pick something on Amazon Prime. 

I mentioned some things that I wanted to get before the procedure and my sister is giving me a mini-fridge and an extra TV that she has! Dylan and/or I need to go downstate to pick those up, even though she offered to deliver or meet half-way. She’s also letting me borrow a hospital table. I told her that I didn’t think I needed it but she threw back at me, “wouldn’t you rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it?”

Man I really hate it when people use my own words against me!

While I can afford to lose weight, I have steadily done so this month. Stress, loss of appetite and likely, maybe, the effects of some of the prescriptions I’ve been taking. While I do get hungry, I am eating very little and then generally feel nauseated afterward. So much, in fact, that even Zofran isn’t helping. I usually just have a wintergreen mint (trick I learned due to the GI issues) when my stomach gets “icky” but that, too, is failing.

As I said before, you will go through so much with this diagnosis, some likely due to the stress of the unknown. I think this “ickiness” is my body reacting to the stress of everything. Doctors usually recommend the BRAT diet (banana, rice, applesauce, toast) and/or to eat smaller, more frequent meals. None of that is working for me, but if you’re in a similar situation, either may work for you.

I write in real-time but posting is/will be delayed. At this time (as I write), I am still in the process of building the site and even once it’s built, I may not feel up to uploading a blog entry immediately after I write it.