1st Round Done.

Things were quite eventful, leading up to my first round of Chemo.

 

I was so moved to gratitude, when I received an email from Nick's grandma, Helga.  She, and Nick's Grandpa are living in Berlin right now.  Helga sent me some gorgeous, luxurious silk, to use as scarves.  Which was a generous act, by itself.  But on top of that, Helga said that Nick's Grandpa wanted to contribute toward the cost of buying me a wig.

I had been OK with the idea of not having one.  Or, of just getting a cheap thing from a costume store.

But I am so glad that Bob and Helga gave me that gift.

 

Nick's Mom, Kay, and his Sister, Jessee, and I went wig shopping.  We made a "girls night out" of it!  I narrowed the choices down to a sassy red wig, or a long blonde-ish one.

I'll debut pictures of my choice, next week-ish; when I'm feeling more like being photographed.

 

At every turn, I am feeling so touched by the kind gestures that are being shown to me.

 

 

The day before Chemo, I talked my Mom in to waking up very early.  We left the house at 5AM.  She and I went to the LDS temple (the one that Nick and I were married in); to luxuriate in the peaceful, spiritual feeling that permeates that building.

I had put out a last-minute message to other family members, that I was going.  And I was overjoyed to find that my Aunt Vickie, my uncle Scott, my cousin Chelsea, my Aunt Karen, my Aunt Denise, and my cousin Sophia all made it there to be with me.

I know that they all had to have been up around 3:30AM to make it there.

And that is love.

That is family.

That is MY family.

 

It was a wonderful way to start off, what turned out to be a plain-old-wonderful day.

 

I had been fretting about what to do with Reagan, since she wouldn't be able to go to the Children's Center for the Social Skills class.

Turns out, I only had to worry about it for a short time, because on Thursday, Reagan's 1st grade teacher messaged me.

Mrs. Robinson quelled my fears and frustration and volunteered to take Reagan, once a week, to work with her.  It could not be any more ideal.

Mrs. Robinson knows what Reagan is capable of.  Mrs. Robinson loves Reagan!  This is a far better outcome than I could have ever imagined!

 

 

Also, on this day; Elsa started an art class at Hands On Art.

I have expended so much energy, and brain power; trying to figure out what my little Elsa's "Niche" is.  Swimming?  No. Basketball? No. Running? No. Dance? No. Music? No.

The list is long.

But eureka!  I think we found it!

This girl loves art!

Can you believe she cranked that masterpiece out all by herself, on her first try with pastels?!  I was very impressed!  And I hope art continue to pique her interest.
She's not off the hook, when it comes to athletics, by any means.  Seriously, that girl is the most athletic of my three kids, and it would be a shame to see it go to waste.  But for now, I'll be happy with the art development, and I'll nurture it too.


So, Friday.
Chemo day 1.
I took two Valium, to prepare for the clip implantation.
Any way you slice it, it sucks.
But I survived.

The surprising part was the accessing of my port.
I had been scared to death of that.
But I hardly felt anything!
Getting labs drawn, and getting the IV drugs was a breeze!  Far better than having them use veins in my arm.

It was a 7 hour day at Huntsman.
After they drew my labs, they got me settled in infusion seat 8A:

And Nick and I did a lot of waiting.
There were two different IV bags full of steroids and anti-nausea drugs. 
Then, I had to have three syringe's of a chemo drug administered by hand.  The liquid looked like red kool-aid; and the nurse said they call it the "red devil".
Nick and I watched McFarland USA (my new favorite movie); Nick went and bought lunch, and I dozed off.  I think I slept through the last bag of IV medication that they gave me.

I am in love with the pink blanket, that my friend, Amy made for me.  It will be joining me on all of my chemo excursions.

And, that was it.
I walked out of the building, we got in the car, and I drove home.
No worse for wear.  Or, at least that's how I felt...

My kids spent the night at Nick's parent's house.

I cam home and went to bed.  I was pretty tired.
That first night I suffered from night-sweats.  Oh my goodness, I hope this puts me through menopause now, so I don't have to endure hot-flashes again!
Also, my urine was red, from the chemo drugs.  Weird.

Saturday morning, I woke up and was actually hungry.
Nick took me to get an Acai Bowl, from Braza Bowlz.  Not his first choice, but he's a good man, like that.
My kids came home, and my parents took them for the remainder of the day, and for Sunday too.

I was fatigued, but still feeling pretty good.

When I found out I was going to need chemo, I logged on to Netflix and re-watched the Parenthood episode, where Monica Potter's character has her 1st round of chemo.  Because, you know, television shows that need ratings are going to provide the most realistic re-enactments of real-life drama, right?!
It had me convinced that I'd be puking by the toilet, for hours on end.
Straight-up, after that, I asked my doctor if I could get some Marinol.  She said, "no".
Turns out, TV depicts chemotherapy the same way they do childbirth.  Heavy on the over-dramatization, and nothing whatsoever that resembles real life.  Go figure?