Day 21

Good Morning all, Wow I have so much to tell you since my last update. Okay let's see... Tuesday I went and had my blood drawn, which the lady at Lab Corp botched again. Bruises all up my arm this time. I spoke with Dr. Buckley about it on Wednesday and he mentioned setting me up to get the blood drawn through my portacath(which I thought was one of the reasons they put the cath in to begin with) but come to find out my chemo nurse Pat told me it would be a lot of trouble as Lab Corp will not draw through the port and neither will the chemo nurses so I would have to schedule outpatient surgery with the hospital and go up there each time. Now considering I get blood drawn at least once a week this would be a lot to go through so it looks like my arms will be all bruised up for the next 5-6 months. Sure wish those ladies at Lab Corp knew what they were doing. Oh well it really is ok.. nurse Pat told me to make sure I drink lots of water the night before drawing blood in order to plump my veins up so they could find them better so it's more water than usual.. I have already learned that water ...water...water...seems to be an essential key to this chemo stuff. Ok so got blood drawn on Tuesday and by Tuesday night I noticed my hair falling out more and more so I asked Brian to go ahead and shave it for me. It was really bothering me to feel it falling on my back and arms so reluctantly Brian got the electric razor out Tuesday night and shaved my head leaving about 1/4 of an inch of hair remaining on my head. He was pretty upset the entire time and I too was very anxious about it, but decided to leave the tears for when I looked at myself in the mirror.. so of course once Brian finished I walked quickly to the bathroom to catch a quick peak at what I now must look like and just let me say ...I ROCK the GI Jane look!!!!!! I was so surprised at how great I looked. As I stood there getting a good glimpse of the new woman in me.. poor Brian came in the bathroom looking like he had just killed his best friend.. he told me I could cry on his shoulder if I wanted to, but I explained there really was no need as I liked the new me..My baby (thank God for my blessing called Brian-aka baby) did a great job with my hair and I really was okay with it.  It really has been amazing to watch God bless me with so much strength and resolve.If anyone knows me well at all, they know how important my hair has always been to me so for me to have this attitude about losing it all means it can only truly be a miracle from God. I really feel his strength at times like this..it's  so amazing.. I just lay back and he is right there to catch me and carry me through it all.. How awesome is that??? All I can say is WOW...and thank you Lord for your strong healing arms.. Wednesday I went to the Docs office for my appointment, strutting my new doooo and everything went great. The Doc said I looked great (he loved the new hair) and that as before he truly thinks I am going to do wonderful through all of this. I explained to him that I would really like to get back to work and he felt that was great as well so he gave me my release to work and off I went. I returned to work on Thursday (strutting my new doo again..no hat yet) and the reception I got was amazing. I felt so loved by everyone.. I really didn't realize how much I missed work until I went back. It was pretty interesting though to watch some as I walked by them in the hall. I would walk by and say hello and you could see in their eyes that they knew me, but couldn't quite remember how they knew me... I looked so different now.. and it had been almost three months since anyone had seen me so the looks were very understandable. I could tell though that after a moment or two it hit them who I was and then the look of fear or concern for me came over them as they walked on by. I can only imagine how they must feel. How awkward it must be to know someone with cancer and not know what to say or do???? I truly believe now that there is no right or wrong thing to say or do..when it comes to those you know or love that is fighting this thing we call Cancer. For me...the best thing is to just say whats in your heart.. something....good or bad is and always will be better than no words at all. I have learned so much as I walk through this valley in my life.. and I know there is so much more to learn. I just pray that God uses me to show others so that they don't have to face what we(my friends and family as they are going through this with me) all have in order to learn. So my first day back to work went great. I was pretty tired by the time I got home but all in all it was a good day. I had missed all my friends at work so bad and was so glad to see them. On Friday I went back to work and it was great. I realized on Thursday as my hair was still falling out quite a bit that removing the hair from my shirt all throughout the day was becoming quite a job, until Lil bit (Tanya a young sweet girl that I work with) mentioned a lint brush. She rushed over and grabbed one from Donna's(my boss and dear friend)desk and rolled it across my back and shoulders and sure enough it cleaned me all up. It wasn't until later as I was staring at the lint roller that I realized..hey I bet I could use this as a hairbrush..so sure enough as a few of my co-workers were standing around including the big boss lady Linda...I showed them all my new hair brush and it worked like a charm. I just roll it over my entire head and it takes out all the loose hair. If I do this like once an hour I find that I don't have so much hair falling out on me which is quite nice as it itches like crazy. So once again I learn something new each day and how wonderful is it that I can make people laugh at the same time... I love it!!!! I am always my happiest when I can make others laugh..almost to a fault as I do tend to say some crazy things at times just to get a laugh...haha..ok so Friday went great ..left work, went home grabbed Brian and off to Bingo we went to meet Donna and her family for a night of fun. I have always loved playing Bingo and it had been quite a few years ...so when Donna invited us how could I pass that up ... Bingo plus great company???? It turned out to be a great night. Lots of laughs, a few heart attacks as we got close to winning but always fell short by a number or two (Brian did win one game though for $25.00 so that was cool) and great friends..It was awesome!!! Went to bed that night with no problem and slept like a baby.. and I didn't even need a sleep aid..whoohooo. Got up on Saturday and just spent a lazy quiet day at home watching our Georgia Dawgs lose :( and then watching the race later that evening. Now here it is Sunday and all is good. I have lots to do of course as I must get ready for work and chemo this week. I am trying to think positive as I really want to keep my chemo appointment this week so please pray my platelets are up and everything moves as planned. I feel great right now and had a great week last week.. I am so ready for another great one.. Lord willing.. and I know he is.... so it's up to me and our prayers to push on through.. I know we can do it ....heck just look at what we and HE have done so far... Can I get an AMEN????? AMEN.... Well I better go for now..I hope to update you on chemo day, but if not..either myself, Brian, Momma or Terrie will update you on the weekend. Take care everyone. I hope you all have an amazing week and as always thank you all so very much for your prayers and support.. They, just like you, mean so much more than you know. Bring on an amazing week!!!!!!