A Great Day

Yes, today was a GREAT day!  And I want to get it in writing.

I had to get up early to take Olivia to her first day of school as a sophomore (yeah!) so I went in to work an hour early.  I had a great meeting with the grantees I work with on healthcare emergency preparedness - they are a GREAT group of people.  I have to admit I was nervous seeing them for the first time since starting chemo and being bald.  I changed outfits three times this morning and tried several variations of hats and scarves before I opted for a black bandanna.  I love what I do, and after working with this group for nearly eight years, we have grown to know each other well.  They know of the trials and tribulations with my husband's brain injury and now my battle with cancer.  Their support has been awesome.  (Thanks to all of you.)

The rest of the day was equally rewarding and my energy level was higher than it's been for quite some time.  I even thought to myself, "I feel great. I have gone for an hour without thinking 'I have cancer.'"  I thought about how awesome it would be to try to go on a run.  I have a great new "after-cancer" goal because one of my co-workers has recently taken up running and sent me a quick message today asking if we could run a 5k together when I've kicked cancer's butt and feel better.  YES!  ABSOLUTELY, I will run with you, Pam!  Last year at this time I ran a 10k race (Pocatello Marathon) and won the event for my age group.  Now, I would be lucky to get around the track a few times.  I stopped by the grocery store on my way home tonight and was winded and exhausted after carrying my grocery bags to the car.  I felt like lead.  Bummer, yes, but it's okay now that I can look to the future with the 5k goal in mind!  :)

The only sadness I've felt today is during and after talking with Michael.  He met with the endocrinologist today and she said his pituitary gland is not working at all. It appears to have been damaged in the bomb blasts and it has completely stopped working.  He will have to receive testosterone and growth hormone injections for the rest of his life.  About five years ago I was battling arthritis (HLA-B27+) and had to give myself injections (and the injections put my arthritis into remission) so he said he wants me to give him the daily growth hormone injections when he comes home.  This alone has been a journey in itself.  Learning to live with his PTSD, chronic pain, disability, and challenges to daily living activities.  It's a small setback learning this new diagnosis, but one we can learn to live with.  As we are near the 10 year anniversary of September 11th I am extremely proud of Michael for having gone to Iraq twice for the U.S. military.  I have hopes he will be home in the next few weeks.  I miss him so much right now.

Olivia had a great first day at school.  We talked about her classes and she did homework!  For those of you know me well, know that I'm a learning GEEK and LOVE homework. I'm not afraid to let the rest of y'all know that either.

Both of us are already heading to bed.  Olivia is in marching band and they start bright and early every day at 6:30 or 7 a.m. so I'll be getting up early again tomorrow.

Oh.  My oral thrush is gone...as are my eyebrows.  Very weird.  And what little stubble I had left on my head was on my pillowcase this morning..  Without stubble acting as "traction" my bandanna slid around on my head all day.  I kept adjusting it to try to hide the fact that my eyebrows have fallen out.  Oh, the joys of chemo and baldness.

Today... I'm grateful for having such a great day at work and having ENERGY.  Good night!