lblanchard | Radiation, Week One / Hippeastrum mandonii (Reply)

Hippeastrum mandonii, fading and pollinated

H. mandonii is about done -- the petals on the first bloom were getting soft last night and now they are looking sun-bleached. I was fretting that the ladyparts weren't opening up the way they have done on all my hybrids (and H. striatum, I think), but a Certified Expert tells me that not all species open up, so I pollinated yesterday and again this morning, and will hope for the best. If it's self-fertile, I'll be sharing seeds with

pondhopper and the aforementioned Expert.

This couldn't have come at a better time. With all the cancer stuff happening, a propagation experiment is exactly what I need to keep me preoccupied.

The results of too many earlier propagation experiments must be deaccessioned, though -- and if I have the energy next weekend I think I'll move a ton of them out front and advertise their availability on Facebook -- first-come, first-served because I am not about to get involved in savesies and setting-up of times. A friend of Roy's is here this weekend, so this is not a good time. Besides, I'm fully occupied with Mr. Mandonii and don't feel like working on a plant giveaway right now.

Speaking of energy levels, I seem to be doing all right after the first week of radiation. The target area is ever so faintly pink but not at all painful or itchy -- yet. This past week I have fallen into a good rhythm of slathering on the special moisturizer as soon as I get home and again before I go to bed. I bought some hypoallergenic moisturizing soap for twice-daily cleansing of the armpit that I may not deodorize (eeeeeuw).

Energy-wise, I was worse at the beginning of the week, but I think that's because I was a cheesy slacker and walked nowhere all the previous week, leaving me totally out of shape and a little breathless on my four-block walk home from the bus. I am taking Uber to the treatments -- the one time I tried public transportation the bus was so late that I had to take a different bus, which stops two blocks further away from the facility -- leaving me hot and bothered both literally and figuratively. Nope nope nope nope nope. Uber out / bus back is working beautifully; and I am extending the walk home by a block every day as my strength returns.

I also moved my appointment from mid-day to late afternoon. That way I can do a good six hours of work before I head out, and can flop in a chair once I get home, until it's time to nuke the MANNAmeals.

Speaking of MANNAmeals, the soups are a little light on protein, vegetables, etc. for my taste. I really like a hearty soup. So I'm roasting a bottom round roast right now, to be chopped into tiny bits and frozen to add to soups. Later I'll do the same with chicken breasts. And I ordered enough eggs to see me through my treatments and then some, so I'll bake those and freeze them this weekend as well. That way I will be prepared for the killer fatigue if and when it hits.