Garden of Thought

Hoorah! I have my last radiation treatment thing this afternoon and I am SO ready to 'graduate' - my only regret is it means I won't be around to see the finished version of the huge jigsaw puzzle all of the patients and their friends poke away at while waiting for their turns and it's *soooo* close to being done. ;-)   I'm starting to heal up and now have a very nice tan in a place I definitely can't show off.

My hair is coming in! Yay!  Maybe only a quarter of an inch long at this point but hey, it's hair!  Woo!

I tend to check it every morning in the mirror to exhort it to grow faster but I don't think it's listening too well. It looks like it's the same color (dark blonde), I'm wondering if my waves are also going to be the same - it would be fun to at least get *some* variety after all this. 

Here's looking forward to 2015!  Was a quiet one here, I think because it was too cold for anyone to want to go outside and made noise like they usually do (including us!).

I'm growing a small amount of fuzz!  It's not enough to go hatless yet, but I am encouraged that my follicles are back in business.

Next week is chapter two of my Unwanted Adventure, as I'll be starting radiation 5 days a week clear into January - people ask me questions about how I'll be feeling and how much is will restrict me, etc. and all I can do is shrug and say "I have no idea! I've never done this before! I'm a radiation noob."

I kind of feel sorry for the nurses who obviously have to deal with people of a, erm, 'less educated' variety as they started out reassuring me that it would not make me glow or make it dangerous to be around family and friends. Seriously.  o.0  When I responded with laughing at the ludicrousness of the idea and telling them I was well aware of that they relaxed and were suddenly much more informative on real details.  But....seriously....?  There are people who would think it would make them glow???

Well, I had my second round of chemo this morning, so that's half of it done (not counting the next three weeks of recovery before the next).  They really go out of their way to help set you at ease, a big suite of oversized green leather recliners, warmed blankets, snacks and drinks - I just get 'plugged in' with my drip and sit and read books, occasionally flagging a nurse to say "May I have a cocoa?"  Sunny windows look out on nice landscaping and beyond the trees the cars going by and they have a bookcase full of books and magazines and a table with an ongoing jigsaw puzzle. 

My hair is definitely beyond presentable, so I'm into my hat collection in earnest.  I have a great little ruffled calico 'muffin warmer' cap I can use for sleeping, it's adorable.

I feel fine now, but I found out the last time that the 'crash' comes a couple days later so I'm running around trying to get all my yard watered before the heat of this weekend arrives.  We sure could use some rain.  The parakeets (all five of them) are having a grand time out on the sunny deck and the plums and cherry tomatoes are coming in like gangbusters. Hoping all is well with everyone!

A notice came up for me to renew my DWth and I kind of went "Oh wow, I haven't posted since April!" and thought it seemed worth doing a little updating, if only for me to look back at later on.  Been quite a year.

First off, the disabled lady I help take care of FINALLY got her disability approved and I've had a lot of extra time dealing with the paperwork, banking and various updates she needed now that we can finally buy stuff to replace/update her life.  It's been good to finally go forward on that, though it does mean time invested of course.

Then my beautiful, wonderful Starflower graduated from high school this past June, but not before she was the lead in their school play which meant a lot of fun time spent there, as I did the costuming and helped paint the set.  Scads of hours over there, but good times all around and we survived graduation and everything that goes with it, hoorah!

THEN in late May I was diagnosed with breast cancer - small and early, thank God - so after graduation was over I had lumpectomy surgery, did recovery from that and then found I was right on the statistical line for whether I would need chemo or not. I was given the choice and decided if it was that close to the line better safe than sorry.  SO at this point I have three more chemo treatments to go through the end of October and my hair is falling out like autumn leaves on a windy day.   I went shopping for colorful hats on Etsy and am trying to make the best of it, thankfully I haven't been too sick at this point.  The unknown is always more fearsome than the reality. 

LIfe is kind of crazy, I keep up with two households, my own and my friend's, and two churches as well... I assume all of you out there are likewise not letting much moss grow on your proverbial rocks - I'll have to spend some time reading now to see what's been happening.  *hugs*