Cocktails, Caps, and Blood Counts

Today at chemo, Shirley mixed my anti-nausea cocktail better than they did in the hospital, and I took my Ativan when I got home - hey did you know that Michael Jackson was on Ativan too?! it's not what made him die, but it was one of many things he was on - so after a brief rest, I felt well enough to go run some errands.

I've been meaning to go to the American Cancer Society for some time because I'd heard they have a resource room of wigs, hats, and scarves. While my collection is nearing the versatility I desire, I wanted to see what was available and any advice they had. (Like is there a way to get all your hair to fall out at once so it doesn't go all patchy? As the Hungarians would say, sajnos nem). Today we stopped in, and it's still surreal for me to go into a place like that to receive services. I've been living with this diagnosis almost a month now and "the C-word" still hasn't sunk in, as it applies to me. Going often to therapy and sitting in a row of people with IVs in various stages of baldness helps me to feel like I'm part of an "us" rather than talking about a "them," but Cancer Survivor still hasn't entirely integrated into my identity. The people at ACS were really very kind, wanting to see if there were other services they could offer, and they found me a couple hats and another scarf that may even surpass the cuteness of the ones in the previous post. I think I'll wait to post pics, but just know that you don't have to worry about me being bald and cold and un-cute.

That is to say, not only am I feeling well tonight, I'm also feeling a little bit hip. AND I got my blood work back from Monday and my AFP count (which we want to be low . . . like 6. before surgery it was 6620, before round 1 of chemo it was 1786) was 301. Score 1485 points against Grazelda!