Let's see if this will work

Here is a link to the Hat Party Album

http://photo1.walgreens.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2998697001/a=3443413_3443413/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walgreens

just highlight, copy and then paste into "http.www" line at the top of your page.

Sorry to leave ya hangin'

Sorry I didn't post on Thurs. My blood counts were back up. They were at 3.0, only needed to be at 1.2. YAAAAAAA bone marrow, way to do your job! Unfortunately, my glucose level was down to 47, last week it was 58. The normal range is 70-100ish. So now I get to go see my primary doctor about these episodes of hypoglycemia.

Saw the oncologist Fri. before chemo. I will start taking a shot to help my counts stay up. I will take 3 of them, one this Mon. and then one after my next 2 cycles of A-C. This shot stimulates the bone marrow to do its job. Its main side effect - bone pain. YAAAAAA!

My Dr. also said that my tumor has gotten a little smaller. Now this is measured manually, no fancy tests, but I will take her word for it. As long as it is getting smaller then the chemo is doing its job. We also got into a humorous fight about how much weight I could lift when working out. If you see me over the summer and I look scrawny, you will know why!

I took the new expensive "magic" pill yesterday, but I still got sick. It was almost like clockwork to the last time. I will say it wasn't has bad, maybe 50% as bad as last time. But the time frame was just the same. No vomiting this time. I also think I stayed calmer this time, because I knew what was going on and I knew it would be over in about 5 hours. I, of course, think staying calm helped just as much as anything.

That is just about all I know, I hope to get some sun on my bald head this weekend. Yes I will be using sunblock. I think I am reading to start Rocking the Bald! I really don't mind my bald head, Jaxon tries to show it off to all of his friends. so what the heck. OWN IT I SAY!!!!!

Enough is enough

As much as I had quickly became addicted to my nightly shower ritual of seeing how much hair I could rub off my head. (It was a fun way to pass to time but dang I have a lot of hair, even if it is now only 1/4 of a inch long.) Saturday morning I handed Jen the clippers and said shave it off! So I am now bald, besides the stubble that has yet to fall out.

MY BALD OBSERVATIONS:

1. My head is cold.

2. I can feel the wind on my head as I walk.

3. Little kids really notice when a girl doesn't have hair, even if she has a hat on.

4. It is easier for the wind to blow off your hat (very windy this weekend).

5. I have a mystery scar on the back of my head.

6. People like to smile at you with that "oh you poor thing" smile.

7. Hats make my head sweaty, even though it is still cold.

8. Hot Topic has very cool bandanas.

9. I must learn how to scratch my head gentler.

10. Jaxon and Jen love me no matter what.

Slapped once again!

One must agree that I have had a few slaps in the face over the last few months! Many blessings, lots of good news, but a few bumps along the way. I have dealt and moved on through all of these and I know that I will move past this one. However, today when I got the results of my blood work and saw that my counts were too low, I nearly lost it! Not to mention that this was at 9am, I put a call immediately into my Dr. to find out for sure what the counts meant, and they didn't call be back until 2pm. That was 5 hours of thinking I probably wouldn't have chemo, hoping that I was somehow wrong, WAITING, and just not knowing what my plan for Friday was going to be. If you do not know me very well, you might not know that I LOVE plans and LIVE for plans, not having a plan, having an unexpected change in my plan this DRIVES ME CRAZY! Needless to say, I was a little bit crazy today and A LOT SAD. So no chemo tomorrow, I will get my blood checked next Thurs., if my counts are back up then I can get chemo next Fri. Oh, and don't think I didn't have a calendar in which I had already written down the dates of every chemo appt. I was going to have through Sept.........these dates are now shot to hell! Side note - I did write them down in pencil......just in case!

Quick update and shout out!

So much for the buzz cut. My hair is officially falling out. Now since Friday I have been able to pull at it and it would come out, but now I can basically just touch it and it is falling out. Kind of weird. You can easily see my scalp and I have a few little bald spots.

I get my blood work done tomorrow. My white blood cells have to be at a certain level for me to be able to get chemo on Friday. I am not sure how I will process it, if my count hasn't went back up, that will throw my whole schedule off. Yes, I know I shouldn't have the whole next 7 months scheduled out....but i do!!

I super big shout out to my awesome co-workers who all wore hats yesterday! It was my first day to wear a hat to work. What amazing people and what great support they continue to provide.

New New Haircut!!!!

Weekend in Poplar Bluff

We took a quick weekend trip to Poplar Bluff to visit family. Thought it would be a good idea to visit family while I was feeling so good. Well we had a good visit, but my "feeling good" took a turn for the worst. My 3 small mouth sores turned into 5 rather large sores and a swollen right cheek. My lymph nodes under my jaw become swollen and sore. Probably totally unrelated I had a horribly stiff neck most of the weekend with significant pain. Oh ya, my hair started falling out. So much for feeling good. At least we had a good weather on Saturday, unlike the weather in Springfield.

I made a quick trip to the Dr. today, since my mouth sores seemed out of control. Guess what, I received more medicine! I am actually happy about this medicine. Something to numb my mouth so that I can eat and another that will hopefully heal my mouth sores. The bad news is that this is probably a side affect of chemo which will likely continue over the next few months.

Since my hair had started to fall out I went all out this afternoon and got my hair buzzed off! If I can get my computer to cooperate I will put up a picture.