October 12th — Greg left for a business trip and my folks won’t come into town for a few more days. Of course, tonight is the night I feel achy and chilled. My bladder hurts, my intestines are rumbly and I’m really really tired. The good news is that I am running no fever. This is one side effect of the Taxol drug, so let’s hope the flu-like symptoms are a chemo-effect, and not the Swine Flu. The kids are trying to be helpful, but they are 7 and 5. Their idea of helpful is to peel hard-boiled eggs and make egg salad for dinner. There seem to be a myriad of egg salad ingredients all over the kitchen but the kids did eat so I’m really not complaining. It’s helpful to not be a neat housekeeper when you have cancer. If the dishwasher doesn’t get loaded and there are dinner dishes still on the table when I crawl into bed, it won’t upset me. It’s funny when you turn out the light in the kitchen, the mess just disappears. Gatorade, egg salad, pizza and Caesar salad was the kids’ dinner tonight. Please don’t call CPS. I’m trying my best. I would be more miserable but I know there are only two more (shout it!) two more hard chemo infusions ahead of me. Even if the next 14 days are all bad days, I can do 14 days! I titled this Achy, Breaky Heart thinking to make some clever allusion to the song or my emotional condition, but feel completely unqualified to do so. I must really be miserable if I can’t even try to be witty. That more than anything will get my friends to feel sorry for me. “No clever line, bad pun or witty retort? Amy must be really really sick…”