Last Monday, June 23rd, I had my first round of chemotherapy. They placed me in a private room, and my mom, sis, and my friend Dawn were able to stay with me throughout the whole process which took about 6 hours in all. I was hooked up to an iv line and given 3 chemotherapy drugs spread out over the day. Everything went very smoothly that day, and I felt just fine.

My friend, Dawn, brought a very real looking stuffed kitty, and we had fun seeing how many staff members we could fool with it. It brought a lot of people into the room and got all of the nurses talking about the pets they have at home. They have a pet therapy program at the Peninsula Cancer Institute, so they said occasionally they will have dogs coming and going. They also have a music therapist who will load up your ipod with any kind of music you can think of. He stopped by the room that morning and asked if I had any special requests. I thought it might have been kind of a stretch, but I asked him if he was familiar with the fun jazz music they play on the Weather Channel. I love that stuff! Even have a dance I like to do to it. He knew exactly what I meant, and he was back in less than 10 minutes with a bunch of uplifting jazz music! The rest of the time, we played cards, watched part of a movie, and had a scrabble game and tetris tournament going on at the same time. It truly kept my mind occupied.

About 3 a.m. the next day, I started feeling the effects of the chemotherapy. My face and top of my chest were red and swollen for about 3 days, and the first few days the nausea was pretty bad. I really didn't get my appetite back until about five days later, and the only foods that I could bear to eat those first few days were mac & cheese and mashed potatoes, because they were the only foods that tasted like they were supposed to. I had to go back to the doctor's office the next day to get an injection to keep my white cell count from dropping too low, and this made my bones ache for about 5 days, but it was a good sign cuz that meant the injection was doing what it was supposed to. The strangest side effect I had from the chemo was what I like to call "super-sonic hearing." Normally I have to turn the volume on the radio and the tv up to a volume that most people would consider loud, but after the chemo everything seemed so much louder. Sounds were vibrating in my head, and I kept asking my mom to turn the volume on the tv down further and further, and I could still hear every word they were saying! My mom said I was getting back to my old self by Saturday evening, because I started to ask her to turn the volume back up again. Bizarre. Today, just over a week after chemo, my appetite is back in full force, and I feel like eating everything in the house! The good news is that when I went to the doctor's office today, they told me I had not lost any weight since this whole thing started. Yipee!

I had to push my hair shaving appointment back a few days, but I finally went and had it done. Dawna gave me the clippers and let me shave a reverse mohawk down the middle of my head to start it off! Very fun! The night before I got my hair shaved, my family and I took a few cute pictures together while I still had hair. Then we had a hair cutting party, and I let everyone take turns cutting a chunk of my hair off. My brother insisted on being first, and he took the scissors right next to my scalp and gave me the shortest bangs in hair history! We laughed so hard! Then I let my niece experiment and cut my hair however she wanted, and she gave me a real cute, real short haircut. My brother shocked us all and had my nephew shave all of his hair off in honor of my hair loss! It was completely unexpected, but his head sure is gorgeous! How wonderful is he!?

I have lots of hats and a few wigs I got from Suzi Williamson, who they call the Hat Trader. She has a free service that allows women going through chemotherapy to borrow different hats and hair pieces for as long as you need to, then you return them when you can so they can benefit the next lady. What a neat idea! My sis has been wearing hats with me when we go out. Is my family incredible or what!?

I have been praying over the last few years that God would strengthen my relationships with family and friends, because I felt like I was powerless to stop the crazy busy part of my life that was keeping me from having deeper, more meaningful relationships. You know how the story goes, it was the tyranny of the urgent things in my life and everything else was placed on a back burner somewhere. I kept pleading with God to help me slow down and enjoy the people around me more. In fact, I begged him to do something because I told him that if He left it up to me that I would just do the same old thing I've always been doing and things would never change. He is, without a doubt, answering that prayer through this whole experience, and thankfully, I will never be the same. This past Sunday, our Pastor, Sam, talked about love being a choice we make, not something we fall into. After all, he said, "How many of you have fallen into your closet and come out dressed? You don't. You decide to get dressed and put on your clothes." So he urged us to "get dressed in love," to make the choice to love those around us each day instead of letting our feelings or emotions take us here and there. Many of you have been so graciously offering to help in any way possible, so I thought of something you could do for me if you really want to help. Here it is. PUT ON LOVE. Get dressed in it. Do something special for someone you know, or don't know, something unexpected, and then tell me about it sometime. You will put a smile on my face for days to come.