Monday, September 6, 2010

  The emotional slide wasn’t so bad; it’s kind of a given that I will cry - for any reason!  But this time, the 

Neulasta got me with achy flu-like symptoms and a general yucky feeling - a déja vu of morning sickness.  

I went to school on Friday because it was the big day when we post all the class lists on the front windows

of the office.  As it turned out, that was already handled, so I just tried to keep on track even though I was 

starting to feel awful.  

  I have made another decision -  I do very well on the 3 chemo days, the 4th day with the shot is so-so, 

and the 5th day, I’m going to allow myself to feel crummy - enough with being stoic.  If I feel like crawling 

under a rock, it’s okay - with no apologies (to myself).  When I left school on Friday, I was really ready to 

crawl under a rock and that’s exactly what I did (figuratively, of course) until Sunday evening, when I finally started to feel normal again.  One would think that I should have this figured out by now, but I’m still learning!

  I have to say that Terry was so patient through all this and kept offering to make me things to eat.  I had

read that food that you really like will often become impossible to get close to during this time, and “they”

were right.  The only things that worked were chunky peanut butter on toast and grilled cheese sandwiches.

The other thing that I noticed this time is that I have no stamina.  I got up Sunday morning to shower and

wash my hair so that I could go to church, and realized  that I had used up all my energy, got light-headed 

and went back to bed.  The beneficiary of all this, of course, is Buttons, our cat, who now has a buddy who 

can also sleep about 22 hours a day!

  I do want to say a HUGE “thank you” to the ladies at school who all pulled together to register the new 

kids, completely assemble the first day packets, and generally do what I have been responsible for over

the last 16 years at my school.  Opening a new school year is really a busy time and very stressful, 

and I’m so thankful that I was able to sleep through it this year!  You all are wonderful friends and I 

appreciate you so much!  

  School actually begins this Thursday, Sept. 9th, so I will work for 2 full weeks before I begin my 4th

round of chemo on Sept. 20th.  Following that round, I will have another PET/CAT Scan and bone marrow

test to assess my progress (I hope) towards remission.  Regardless of the results, I will have 2 more

rounds of chemo for sure.  Then we’ll see . . . 

  Blair, Lisa Schron, and I will be attending a Women of Faith Conference this weekend in Anaheim - it

should be wonderful and I know from experience that I need to take a BOX of kleenex with me.  Looking

forward to it!