Pumpkin Carving & Trunk or Treat

October has been a hard month for me. I mean, every month has been. But I'm feeling particularly depressed and yuck due to the immunotherapy infusions. They are nothing like chemo, of course, but I've been getting a lot of headaches and muscle and joint pain. 

On top of that, I'm dealing with weird eyelid inflammation issues. I got really bad styes on my eyelids last Spring during chemo, and now it's all raised and swollen where I had one of the styes. Like scar tissue maybe? I don't know. It's like the stye never completely went away. Also, my eyes are all gunky every morning, and my eyelids get red and swollen and have this awful prickling/stitching sensation. I feel like it happens out of the blue, and it'll be bad for a few days before calming down. But before I know it, another eyelid flare comes along. I don't know why all of a sudden this is happening, but its incredibly depressing. I don't know if it's a gland issue or what. I've stopped wearing eye makeup hoping to not make it any worse. And now I don't want to leave the house because I can't put makeup on and I feel really self conscious when I'm in a flare. I don't mean to be vain.....it's just my looks and self esteem have taken so many blows this past year, I really cant handle one more thing. 

Anyway. I hope I can get this issue figured out. I'm tired of it always being something. I try to stay positive and just take everything in stride, but it's hard sometimes. I want so badly to be done with this whole cancer journey. 

With all that said, I haven't wanted to leave the house and go do much. As you know, we did visit the pumpkin patch when my family was visiting. And we did carve pumpkins with the Grandparents. But we never visited the corn maze with our friends like we usually like to do, we didn't go to the Hood River Fall Fest, and we didn't hike the pipeline trail. The kids did go to Trunk or Treat with Sam and their friends, but I had a headache, so stayed home. Sam only got two photos that night, so I don't have much to share Trunk or Treat wise, and Molly had already taken off with her friends, so wasn't even in the group photo. 

Ah well. Next year will be better, right? 

 

With love,

Mama Hauck

Spokane Trip

Every year Sammy and I like to take a trip, just the two of us. We have been luck enough to get to plan this around a Shakey Graves concert, and this year was no different. I was SO excited when I learned Shakey was coming back to Spokane, our favorite city, and knew we had to go. We booked two nights in the same hotel we stayed in last year, The Montvale Hotel. We had just enough time to rest and get cleaned up before heading back out the door to see Shakey! We had an amazing night. He never disappoints! I was thankful we managed to get in early to snag some great seating up in the balcony! This go around, I decided to only take a few photos, and no videos, so I could really be in the moment and enjoy the concert as much as possible. 

The next morning we set out on foot to find a place to eat breakfast. We managed to find an amazing waffle house, People's Waffle, and I had a delicious mixed platter of waffles with different toppings. It was soooooo good. Sam got some egg waffle thing, lol. We will definitely go back there again. 

After breakfast, we walked around a bit and hit some shops, including River Park Square Mall, We decided to pass up on taking a ride on the carousel and skyride because we wanted to make sure we had time left in the day to visit our favorite place.....Manito Park, which includes Mirror Pond, Duncan Garden, Gaiser Conservatory, and Nishinomiya Tsutakawa Japanese Garden. By far my favorite thing to do in Spokane is to visit these beautiful parks and gardens. I'd go there daily if we lived in the area. I hope the people who live by Manito Park realize how damn lucky they are to have these treasures in their backyard. 

After a long day of walking the shops and parks, we stopped in at my favorite restaurant in Spokane, The Gilded Unicorn. Their food is top notch. I got THE most delicious bacon wrapped dates I have ever eaten in my entire life. I didn't think anything could top that appetizer, but the pork chop and mac and cheese I got for my main was to die for. I can't wait to go back again. 

Now that Sam and I have visited Spokane ourselves a few times, I'd really love to take the kids. That's our goal for next summer. It's hard for me to wrap my head around it....and I really hate thinking about it.....but next summer will be Anthony's last full summer at home with us. I really want to be able to save up to take the kids on a special family trip. Spokane will be the perfect place to do so. 

With love,

Mama Hauck