Next Steps

I can't begin to explain what that first month was like. Constant trips to different doctors. Test after test. Pet Scans, Echo cardiograms, Port installation, meetings with my oncologist, my surgeon and my radiologist. It seems like all I do is go to work and go to the doctor. Finally things settle down as we start Chemotherapy.

Let me talk a little about chemotherapy. You read all this stuff online about what happens when you start chemo. You throw up. You lose your hair. You get tired. Now let me tell you a little more about me. I hate needles. I mean, I REALLY hate needles. I pass out when they take blood, so the thought that I would have to be stuck with needles every week for the next 4 months had me in a panic. Next... at this point I have long hair. I mean down below my butt long hair. I have been growing and donating my hair to Locks for Love for over 15 years now, so while I am accustomed to cutting off my hair to shoulder length, I have not had short hair since high school. Finally, I am an active woman. I love running around the yard with the dogs. I walk to and from work. I can work 16 hour days at work and still be active at home. Needless to say, I am not looking forward to what is coming when I start Chemo.

The week before Chemo, we cut my hair off to donate it. My hair is now right above my ears. From what the doctor tells us, I will start to lose my hair after about two weeks of the treatment, so I have three weeks to get used to not wearing my hair in a bun. Customers in my store compliment me on my new hairdo. I explain to my staff and my boss what is going on in my life. I think I am ready for what is coming. We tell all of our friends. We tell all of our family. We prep the house by cleaning everything we can, setting up a comfy chair for me in each room that I like to sit. We rearrange my work schedule so that I can still be at work 45 hours a week while going through chemotherapy.

The first week of Chemo was exactly what they said it would be. I spent a couple of nights praying to the porcelain god. I took so many anti nausea medications that I had a hard time staying awake. I lived on chicken broth, bananas and toast. I went to work every day. I discovered that the worst day was actually two days after the chemo. We adjusted my schedule for the next week to see if it would make life easier.

Week two of Chemo was completely different. I took the medication exactly as directed and took the day of vomiting off from work to sleep. This worked wonders. So for the next four months, this was how my schedule would work. And then it happened... the hair loss began.