1st CHEMO SESSION

1st Chemo Session was yesterday. I am offically 26.5 hours since it first started in the chemo room at Texas Oncology. The days of me dreading it were gone. It was finally here. Time to face the fears head on. My wonderful husband and I both had our heads shave a couple of nights before. I did not want to wake up to patches of baldness. Not knowing how chemo would make me feel or if I would even feel up to leaving the house I decided to go ahead and have control over this situation. Being a hairdresses for over 17 years I have shaved many pre-chemo heads...most who shed a few tears along with the hair. Not me though, there were no tears. It's just hair, it will grow back. Since I went into natural menopause at the age of 39, I have said many times during the occasional hotflash that I would like to shave my head. So Kevin and I went up to THE YELLOW BRICK SALON, the salon I formerly owned. I still have a station there, but I am not working at the moment. The staff there have been like family. They have supported me so much through all of this and the clients as well. They have done everything from donating money, having a bake sale, bringing food over, offering rides. Most of all, giving me their kind words of support and love. So Vicky shaved both of our heads. They said I had a perfectly shaped head. I, for one know that I have the biggest head in the world. We actually measured everyone's head in the salon one day and I had the biggest. It runs in the family. When a baby is born they take three measurement, their height, weight, and their head circumference. This is a standard test which is then given percentile rankings to see how they measure up to all other babies born. Both my girls were in the normal 50-75% for their height and their weight. On the other hand, their heads were ranked in the 100% percentile. This means their heads were bigger than 99% of all babies born!!! What can I say....it runs in the family. So my head is big and perfect! My husband who is iranian born and still speaks Farsi fluently and is currently sporting a gotee, looks hot with a bald head. I told him the shaved head made his biceps grow and his chest. He put on a suit Friday as he was to leave after dropping me off at chemo to go to work. At that point I realized he looked like a hitman, maybe even a terrorist hitman.

Ok, so I went into Texas oncology feeling like I had my own body guard. I was all geared up for my first chemo treatment. We were asked to come back to the financial counselors booth. OH BOY! Just what I wanted. Well we were thrilled to find out that my chemo would fall under the normal co-pay of $40.00. Wow some good financial news finally! Although I had doctor visits on MON, Tue, WED, and Chemo on Friday....all with a minimun $40 dollar co-pay. It adds up quickly. Biopsy was almost $1000 out of pocket and surgery to doctor was $1000 out of pocket. Hospital was $1600 out of pocket. Pre-op testing was $600 out of pocket. I would say that I have had no less than 25 doctors appointments to date in the last 45 days. All of them at $40 co-pay minimum. Very hard when your income has been cut in half. However, I have prayed that God will meet all our needs as he is so awesome and great. And he has. He has put so many people in our lives and used them to meet those needs that I have not had to worry about the financial part of it hardly at all. To anyone that is going through this. Trust and believe that God can and will meet your every need. Ask him to do it. And then you have to let it go and believe that all will be taken care of from that point forward.......So. Getting back to my hot looking husband. The lady that was the financial counselor woman kept staring at Kevin until she finally said..."Do you know who you look like?" he said "no, who?" She told him he looked like PITT BULL the rapper. Since I did not even know who this was, my husband quickly googled him from his iphone to see if it were really true! Could it be? I could see the excitement in his eyes. He was forcing back a smile....trying to keep up his ever so threatening demeanor that went well with his new look. I held back my snickering. His chest and his biceps suddenly grew bigger. He was loving this I could tell. And I was glad. I have seen him cry more in the last month than I have ever seen him cry. So this new found confidence is good. WE settled up and then went back to the chemo room. Probalby 25 lounging type reclining chairs with flip up trays on eith side. Complimentary beverages served to your liking. Snacks if you want them. Tv's mounted for your viewing pleasure. It kind of reminded me of going to get a pedicure.