... And Pay for it I did!

Well, Thursday afternoon and evening following the Erbitux IV were not bad at all, in spite of all the Rain, by which we were rewarded with a great Rainbow over the Iao Valley, as seen from Amanda's "backyard." Feeling a little tired, it was easy to go to sleep early, not long after the Little One's were tucked in. I'd stopped the Vicodin a couple days before, thinking it was a "good thing" and had only taken one half dose of the Oxycodone that morning, just to see what I might expect from it's effects - which seemed pretty nil. In hind site, BIG MISTAKE. I awoke for the first of a half dozen or so times at about 11:30pm, in a cold sweat, with a surprisingly dry mouth, a strong urge "to go" and an unexpectedly uncomfortable headache.



And so began what I presume could become a very unwelcome, though (especially now) not unexpected routine. I think the longest I went was just shy of one and a half hours (that'd be "every 1 1/2 hrs" in the "short version"...). The dry mouth and headache just kept getting worse. From the first awakening, I'd gotten my trusty ol' H2O bottle, and wound up going through about 6 refills. It must have helped some, but it sure didn't seem to at the time. And the headache... OMG! Guess it's part of the payback for having never really been bothered by the bane of brain bashing noggin knocker headaches, or even little ones very often. Guess I have a new understanding for those of you who suffer the occasional migraine - won't be making light of those any more...



So, enough of that... After getting up finally, and reporting my experiences, I went straight to the Oxycodone; and an hour later, I felt fine, but the Headache was still banging away trying to burst out through the top of my forehead. Would that I had my Peppermint Oil, but alas, it had inadvertently been left in Lahaina. Amanda suggested Children's Motrin (liquid, mild, pink...) and after a little bit of checking (I have soooo much info on all this, I think they've covered everything), we concluded that Motrin/Tylenol is "OK" - so, we (she) settled on a 20ml dose, and finally after another hour, I could actually tell it was working. I'd progressed to coffee, then grape juice along with another bottle or two or water, and the dry mouth seemed to be floating away as well. Oh Joy!

While I was feeling "crappy" and just lolling in front of the TV, Amanda managed to sort things out with the tentative plan of "Kelly fixing Dinner." It ultimately was decided that we'd all be going up to Anne's in Makawao. Well, I had a wild hair about needing to get back to Lahaina, to check on Mail, get some clothes (I'd originally thought I'd just be making a day trip to Amanda's and after leaving the night before to allow for the rain, and then spending another night, I definitely needed them), and to check on Marcia's (Seabern, a Dear Friend and my Landlady*) computer, as she'd called to check on me, and let me know it wasn't working...

Well, I actually made record time; Left Maui Lani at 1:45pm, drove to Lahaina, stopped by Emerald Plaza to pick up a ladder from Bear,* home, took a shower, packed a suit case, checked my mail, determined that Marcia's Monitor was maki and didn't have time to change it out, stopped for a tank of gas, and made it back to Amanda's at a little after 4:00pm, perhaps my personal best! We then all piled into Kyle's truck (Carl & Amanda had been out sun seeking, and the boyz had emptied the truck - marble slab rack & tools -) as Anne had requested Kyle do a dump run, to get rid of all the debris created by Carl's hard work around the house and headed up the hill. Turned out that nobody had told Anne that I was coming, and nobody had told me that Kelly who had worked all day wasn't cooking dinner. It can get confusing at times, but only if you try too hard to keep up...Typical for this Clan. No matter as everyone enjoyed B-B-Q steak, boiled potatoes, corn, broccoli, Cesar salad, garlic bread and 5 flavors of ice cream, thank you Anne & Amanda. And that was Friday.

Saturday was kind of a lazy day, a bit of shopping, Carl left at 2:00pm, returning to Las Vegas and his real life a day early, to ease the load on overloaded Wendy (He's the Good Son), and then Amanda insisting on putting up her (outdoor) Christmas lights, only to have it start pouring 5 minuets after she'd started... Hmmm, I might not of mentioned that along the way (we'll blame Kyle for this) we discovered FREE Slot Machines!!! Pretty entertaining, providing you DO NOT PLAY FOR MONEY - and that's all I'm saying about that! If it's not your thing, don't even bother to go there. And if you do, you're on your own, and blame Kyle, not me.

Sunday, Gary Hipp and Family came over for weekly "Church," and Bible study, while I opted for a trip to Ace for a few necessary essentials (stapel gun, pruning sheers, Oxyclean, light bulbs and a 1/4" dowel). We all enjoyed a good lunch of stuffed bell peppers, thank you Amanda. After, and with full stomachs and an empty schedule, everyone settled in for a brief Winter's nap... With any luck, and weather permitting Monday I'll be able to spend some time with Kelly and put up her Christmas lights, as I've been promising since before Thanksgiving... Tuesday and Wednesday I should be back in Lahaina, and then Thursday the real fun begins...

* In a future post I'll provide a run down of my very best Animal Friends of Lahaina (Bear, Thumper, Sparky et' al) for those of you who may not know them...