Wife of Kel'el

Well, let’s see…Keith is healing quite well from his hernia surgery. There was a bit of an odd situation when he went into surgery—his ring and pinky fingers started going numb when they laid him out before anesthesia. Since they had no idea why, they decided to do an epidural to numb the lower half, but to keep him loopy yet awake during the surgery. He once again told them that he is the Son of Jerel (Superman), but at least nobody asked him this time where his cape is (his gall bladder surgery). He’ll be dandy and able to lift more than a milk jug in no time.

I had my second chemo treatment last Friday, with a Neulasta shot on Saturday to help stimulate my bone marrow to increase my white blood cell count. I felt fine again on Saturday (went to farmer’s market, ran errands, and went out for a great hamburger at Front Street Brewery), but the aches from the shot sucks. I was very nauseous on Sunday. Working has been fine this week, but I have had waves of queasiness along with the general crappiness and fatigue. I am mostly annoyed by how difficult it can be to focus—I don’t like not having the answers to teachers’ questions when I know I should. The kids and people at work have been great though. Since they didn’t really know me before I had cancer, they are very thoughtful not to dwell on it, rather they ask questions respectfully. I cherish the outpouring of affections of all o f my dearest friends and old coworkers, but it is nice to not have people tear up when they see you—work would be difficult otherwise.

It Makes Me Look More Like My Brother

The thing with the hair. I tried the wig for a couple of days, and I think it looked okay, but it was more like a hair hat that kept shifting around. Mind you, my strands of hair were still stuffed underneath, so it will feel different as a cue ball, but it is still a lot of hair to manage. Basically, I waited until I couldn’t stand my scraggly hair underneath a bandana, so I called up Jenny and asked her to do the deed. She was ready for me. It was just what I needed: no big emotional freakout on either of our parts, just a girlfriend cutting my hair. She buzzed me down to the last guard—I figured I could go whole razor when the stubbles start to look patchy like the dog in Steel Magnolias.

Being buzzed is so freakin’ comfortable! Although I do occasionally brush my imaginary bangs to the side of my face or start to wrap my towel on my head like a turban to dry my hair, I feel totally normal without hair. But if I want to look normal in public, I might wear my wig. It’s nice just knowing I can choose to have hair and blend in if I want to—although I do need to go get the bangs trimmed.

Toto, We're Not in High School Anymore

So, I was reading this story to the kindergartners on my first day or two of teaching that said that reading is great because it makes you feel good. I read the page that said it can help you pretend “that you are a dragon, or a princess”. So I whispered to the kids, “Now close your eyes…are you a dragon, or are you a princess?” They closed their eyes, several of them gently spurting out “I’m a princess” or “I’m a dragon,” when a boy in the back passionately states “I’m a lawnmower!” I could hardly stop laughing to continue the book.

Eli's Cheesecake Did Hear Me! Woohoo!

If you read my comments from my blog on August 13^th, you might have seen the message from the president of Eli’s Cheesecakes. I finally had a moment to call him up week, and he apologized once again for the misunderstanding, letting me know that his people will be on top of posting a store closing for the company picnic next year. My two cheesecake samplers arrived today, which is great since my folks are coming to visit this weekend. I froze one of them, but the other one is thawing in our fridge as we speak. Come by this weekend if you want to try a slice of either Original with Strawberries, Triple Chocolate, or Praline—really, we can’t possibly eat all of it, even though we’ll try.

Eli's Cheesecake Will Hear From Me About This!

Shortly after my last journal entry I was back to my old self again for the most part. I have been eating like a fool though, and now that vacation is over I must really limit my desserts. I kind of figured I could carb up for those days during my chemo session when I barely want to eat at all, except this chemo session was skipped, so I carbed up for nothing but the joy of doing it I guess. Oh my poor zippers and buttons though.

I went on Friday to do my second chemo treatment, and to possibly finish off many chapters of the last Harry Potter (I am very close, so still not ready to talk about it yet people). They did my blood work to find that a part of my white blood cell count was far too low to do treatment, so we just skip the session, and I went back to my inservice meeting on differentiated instruction, which I didn’t really want to miss anyway. No sarcasm, I really wanted to go to that meeting—it’s important to my career.

Basically, I have a longer list of precautions than my normal ones to ensure that I do not get any infection since my body is not in the best shape to fight it right now, even though I feel fine. I am not sick, that’s not what it means—it means that my bone marrow has not bounced back from the first chemo session yet; it needs two more weeks to rebound, that’s all.

On the bright side, our trip to Chicago was fabulous. Very hot for walking around, but a nice getaway all the same. Our best conversations were with fellow out-of-towners while out for dinner—it felt a bit like being on a cruise, or how I imagine it anyway since I have never been on one. The Cubs did not win, but the tickets were great. The free trolley is the way to go in the summer, and I found the best mug of chai at a boutique grocery store/deli. The Garrett’s popcorn really is great (well known in shy town), especially when you sneak it in to see Bourne Ultimatum to beat the heat—great flick.

Eli’s Cheesecake is supposed to be the best, but I wouldn’t know, and they will be getting a letter in regards to this issue. We drove out of our way (North side) to go to the Eli’s Cheesecake factory to get it fresh on our way into the city before we went to our hotel downtown. I wrote down directions from their website the night before, which is also how I found out that they are open on Sunday—except not the Sunday that we decide to go. Noooooh, it was their staff picnic, so they were closed! This was on my list relating to our vacation theme: Things You Can Only Do In Chicago. It made for a sour start to the trip when getting back to the hotel was less than easy and we barely got the car parked in an underground garage (garnished by homeless people) in time to hop the Red Line to Addison for the Cubs game—and it was Lollapallooza a block from our hotel. Cheesecake would have made all of those problems better, so Eli’s will be hearing from me.

I found a great wig, but no, I will not send photos until I actually need to wear it. Which could be tomorrow. This morning I started getting a few more hairs in my shower than I like—more than just a few. I don’t know though, it might hold out until the weekend. Shaving my head just doesn’t seem like a weekday thing to put on my to-do list. Saturday seems much better. I might just wear the wig with my comb-over underneath until the weekend if I have to . As far as the wig—it is a lovely brunette with red highlights, and Keith picked it out. Very sexy, he says. We’ll see if it makes me feel sexy—I’m not holding my breath.

Oh yeah, Keith. Well, he is having hernia surgery on Wednesday morning, so he will be missing his first three days of the school year. Thank God his mentor is a retired teacher who is willing to sub for him—Jane is fabulous, and he never worries when he leaves his classes in her hands. A couple of people have told us that hernias can be brought on by stress, but I cannot possibly imagine what could have stressed him out. He’s ready to get it all patched up and back to working out in good time. His folks are coming down for the surgery, so I’ll have some company in the waiting room, which is nice.

I have prattled on long enough. I send my love to all of you, and I hope to answer some of your emails this weekend.