CHEMO #1

{Preston}

Yesterday morning I had my own "shaving party." When Kylan saw me he had a good laugh and let everyone know "You look so WEIRD!" Kelsianne followed right along parroting the sentiment. My hope is that it won't be so "weird" when their mother has the same style.

It was also chemo day #1. One of the sisters in the ward was Rory's chauffeur since we weren't really sure how Rory was going to react to the medications, and it was nice for her to have someone to talk to. I stopped in for a few minutes and joined in the teasing of Rory's nurse who was completely decked out in green and yellow "O" gear. When they started talking about sparkly girls shoes it was definitely time to go back to work.

Rory was in great hands, seemed to be in good spirits, and by all reports was feeling fine. Much of that is likely attributable to the "good meds" which will wear off after a couple of days, so we'll see how the next week goes.

1 down, only 7 more to go!

{Rory}

I am not sure I can add many more details to Preston's post. I will just fill in a bit more I guess.

This is a pict of me that my friend from the ward took. She was wanting to take lots more, but I didnt feel up to it after an extra rough start to the morning. Maybe we will add more along the way.

I had a very darling, attentive nurse who was just really great. She took time to explain everything that was happening, what the meds were, why they did things a certain way. She took time to answer all of our questions. She was very good natured to take on my friend's teasing (our nurse is a UofO fan, and my friend is hardcore OSU Beaver fan) Miss J bantered back and forth with my friend and Preston, it was kind of funny to listen to them go at it the whole entire morning.

We had talked about Preston just planning to be at work for the day since things have been crazy for him all week. I was extra surprised to see him walking down the hallway to my "suite" with a long stemmed red rose in his hand. It overwhelmed me that he would take time to come and bring me such a special present. I also got another unexpected visitor when the oncology Family Support Coordinator also dropped in to meet/see me, also bearing wonderful gifts. She brought a wonderful bag packed full of small gifts and goodies. We discovered that she was a CHS graduate and that our leadership kids are one of the high schools providing these gift bags for cancer patients. She also brought an amazing box of goodies from a local's women's church group. We had a great visit and it was nice to finally put a face with the voice I have been talking to all these weeks.

Miss J seemed extra pleased with how everything went with all of the medications. She made the 5 hour appt seem to go by quickly. I was truly grateful to her for all that she did for me. I will be going back down to the hospital today for the secondary injection. Its purpose is to rebuild white blood cells and build bone marrow. It is supposed to be really amazing at helping minimalize the recovery window between treatments. Not looking forward to having the shot given though. It is put directly into fatty tissue layers either in my arm or my stomach.

Thankfully it is a pretty quick thing and hopefully all will be ok with that too.

I am really thankful that this next week will be pretty low key with the holiday. The kids only have 2 days of "school" and I will have lots of time to rest as needed as we gauge each day and my reaction to all of the stuff that was put into my system yesterday.

Will plan to write more soon.