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Saturday, October 11, 2014

Not my favorite way to spend the day after chemo...

We've been trying to talk Micah into letting us get his hair cut for a couple of months now, really.  He's very adverse to cutting hair and nails.  Every time we cut his nails, he acts like we're cutting off his fingers.  He cries and cries and says he can't feel things on his fingertips.  It's weird.  He's got some sensory perception stuff going on, for sure.

Dad took him to the pumpkin patch while Mom and I were at chemo a couple of days ago, which was seriously so cool of him:

Mikey picked out one white pumpkin and one orange one.  He wanted to carve them the second we returned from chemo.  I was like, "Uh, no.  I'm going to bed." Plus, if you carve pumpkins now, then they'll be shriveled and long gone by the time Halloween rolls around!  He was undeterred.

But then yesterday, Mom had an inspiration and said, "You know, if you let us get your hair cut today, then we will carve your pumpkins tonight."

And by darn, he agreed.

And I got to gut and carve the stupid things.  He drew designs on them, and that is all.  I mean, I'm nauseated enough after chemo, but having to gut pumpkins amid the nausea?  That's love, dude.  Pure love.  And a little bit of spoiling.  And a whole lot of bribery.  I'm basically the best parent EVER.

As far as chemo recovery is concerned, I'm doing surprisingly well.  I've had a little bit of nausea, but not much.  Things taste weird - that's normal.  But I have ZERO bone pain and ZERO stomach pain.  Very different this time around than last time around.  I'm really grateful.  My body is very tired, though.  My brain is very much awake, but my body doesn't want to do anything.  And that's obnoxious.  But I'm just glad to be feeling alright.

We are currently undergoing Operation Boob Adjustment.  Lefty is still higher than Righty, so my plastic surgeon is having me wrap this special thing - okay, really, it's like an ace bandage and not so special at all - around my back, on top of lefty, underneath righty, and back to my back.  I have enough bandage to wrap it twice.  I actually see it making a difference!  Lefty is dropping ever so slightly! We have to take a little break for a couple of days in between, because it makes lefty very, very sore. But we're getting there.  How weird, to be literally molding one's body...  Lefty is also larger than righty, because we were trying to make gravity bring Lefty down, but it wasn't working, so that's when we commenced Operation BA.  In a couple of weeks, we'll fill up Righty to match Lefty, and this part of my boob journey will be over until after radiation.  After radiation is when I get my real, permanent inserts.

Oh, and here are some pics of me from chemo a couple of days ago - my friend, Megs's, mom, Lynn, made the purple quilt for me.  I looove purple.  Thank you, Lynn!!

 I used a bag my friend Mary made for me.  The fabric is so cute, and perfect for bringing projects to work on during chemo:
 Three down, three to go!
Can I tell you how cool people with cancer are?  There was this elderly lady there doing her chemo, and she had made three quilts and like 5 hats to donate.  And she has cancer!!  One of the nurses told me that another lady, who is a grandma with cancer, makes pillowcases to put on the pillows of the kiddos' section of the chemo area.  How cool is that??

I saw a lady who finished her last Herceptin treatment (I have to do Herceptin once every three months for a year after radiation is over), and she wept and wept.  Her journey is over!  It was really emotional and really amazing.  That will be me in...wow.  March of...2016.  Mama.  I don't know if I want to wait to have my Cancer Free party until then... :)  We'll see, eh?

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