Photo of Mount Fuji from Daughter Katie and Hubby Matt in Japan

Thursday, December 11 - Gloria arose around 9 a.m. and didn't feel as if she slept as well last night. I think that is because despite the fire in her belly, the hydocodone has allowed her to catch up on her sleep, so she’s no longer going to bed feeling, as the Brits would say, "shattered."

Food is starting to sound good to her and she even had a croissant ... and enjoyed it! Of course, how could one NOT enjoy a croissant? Last night, while I was having salsa and chips, Gloria also kept commenting, "That sure smells good." And so it goes! This past Monday, she could find no joy, but by Wednesday night, salsa was sounding good!

With her feeling better, I assumed she hadn't started Koeneke’s antibiotics out of a justifiable fear they could ramp up her diarrhea, so I suggested to her that it still may be worthwhile to give them a try just in case she had an infection.

But while she is hardly in tip-top shape, her brain hasn't succumbed! Her avoidance had a good reason.

In 2016, a bunch of us had eaten in an Indian restaurant in Manhattan. It was one of those situations where the portions were such that everyone was sharing. The key element in this tale is everything was eaten by more than one person.

We had barely finished, when Gloria informed me that it was important to get home RIGHT NOW! We made it, but soon Mt. Vesuvius had nothing on her.

Since the time from ingestion to onset was so short, it couldn't have been food poisoning. Furthermore, all the food had been shared and no one else was ill or later became ill. It had to be a Gloria-specific response - either an allergy or something that been percolating in her and chose that moment to present itself.

Gloria was glued to the toilet for several days thereafter. Our family physician at the time prescribed Levaquin when her symptoms persisted to rule out a bowel infection. The situation eventually passed, but not long after, Gloria began experiencing pain in both shoulders that persisted for days. That too eventually passed. Then, a couple of months later, she had an episode of frozen shoulder on her left side. While painful, the biggest problem was she could barely move her arm at the shoulder. That lasted for about a month. Through therapy, workouts, and time, she slowly recovered its normal range of motion.

The cause of a frozen shoulder is incompletely understood and is not that common - about 5% of people. There's Gloria again being "special!" What is known is frozen shoulder seems to be related to inflammation in and around the shoulder joint. Side effects of the medication Gloria was prescribed as per the Cleveland Clinic include:

... tendon problems. ... Tell your care team right away if you have pain, swelling, or stiffness while you are taking this medication or after you have stopped treatment. ... The risk is higher in people older than 60 years of age ...

Four members of this drug family have now been withdrawn due to these and other side effects. The one Gloria was then prescribed is no longer being manufactured.

I asked Gloria what alerted her to the possible Ciprofloxacin connection. She said that the paper information sheet that came with the pills mentioned it was a member of the fluoroquinolone family and the "quin" part of the name had stuck with her from her earlier experience.

She was right. The side effects of Cipro are: "Tendinitis and tendon rupture: This risk is higher in people over 60, those taking corticosteroid medications, ... . Tendon problems can occur during treatment or months afterward."

While virtually every medical provider quizzes patients about known adverse reactions to earlier drug encounters, a check with the pharmacy Gloria has used for years did not show she had ever mentioned that episode to them - although it is flagged now. Since this problem was really just coming to light at the time Gloria experienced it, we were away from home during much of it, and the effect occurred after the drug's use, the connection probably was not noticed or at least not noted.

So, with that as history, Gloria decided she's going to pass on the Cipro, especially so since her GI problems appear to be abating.

The remainder of the day was unremarkable, although another step toward something that looks like normalcy is she had a supper of chicken pot pies with potatoes.

While waiting for the pies to be done, an e-mail from a group Gloria belongs to arrived relating to a supposed orphanage that existed sometime in the mid 1950s or earlier located a bit to the west of where we now live. Intrigued, I called one of the members to get more details. This would later provide an excuse for an excursion. After all, Gloria is always on the lookout for column ideas!

Friday, December 12 - Generally a good day! And after two days at home, a good day for a small "adventure" as well! I had done some digging on the orphanage, but to no advantage. So I decided we’d drive to where the orphanage was supposed to have been located.

Saturday, December 13 - One day more than a week ago, I assumed that these reports of what was happening in Gloria's latest medical adventure would quickly drop back to the few-and-far-between category. But things didn't quite unfold that way. But - knock on wood - I may have just spoken a bit early and NOW we will begin that period.

Gloria's Grandfather Nels' Spruced-up Ljuskrona

Today, while I was at work, Gloria retrieved her grandfather Nel’s ljuskrona (use-kroona) from storage, added batteries, and placed it on the table. These were once what might be considered as the Swedish answer to the Christmas tree, until the evergreen nudged it aside. Traditionally, they were to be made from bits and scraps of wood, as is the one Nels made. The original ones had candles, but electric lights were later added in the versions in many Swedish homes. Much like the projects in "The Repair Shop" show, when I refurbished it in 2022, the goal was to stabilize and upgrade the ljuskrona, yet retain Nels' work. So the candle holders were filled with LED versions, cracked wood pieces were glued and the exterior was renewed with a bright red coat of paint.

But, for the most part, today was pretty quiet. One hydrocodone took care of the day. Skin cells, due to their having to encounter the outside world, reproduce moderately often and so suffer somewhat from the toxic anti-cancer chemicals in the therapy. So Gloria's skin, which has a largely Northern-European nature, is beginning to show a bit of blotchiness here and there.

I stopped over at Mariya's and Miriam's place to deliver some wrapping paper and discovered daughter DQ having just emerged from her bath with a fresh haircut. The gals also had a "Chemo Care" package for Big G.

Just before going to bed, I hauled the Christmas tree upstairs and set it up. Lights and ornaments will come later.

It makes me sad that after being involved with my grandfather's Christmas tree business from when I was a toddler through helping haul the 20-foot church trees from the woods and then always having live trees until a handful of years ago, that we now have an artificial one. But the ones nearby are all hauled in from the north and cut so early that they dry too quickly.