No Hair, No COVID & (almost) No white Blood Cells

We are finally on the upswing from treatment #2- and this round felt much better than the first. I still had days where I felt like I had been run over by a train, but overall the post chemo symptoms seemed to be easier to manage. Thank you modern medicine and that additional hydration IV! 

It’s been a trying week for the entire family here. As expected, the last of my hair finally decided to exit stage left. With the help of some bald headed friends and an amazing FaceTime demo, we navigated the final goodbye of my hair. My parents have always said I was born with a full head of curly hair, so this is quite literally the first time my head has looked this way. I officially look sick which is hard and weird. Brandt is having the hardest time with it because he says I don’t look like myself and he wants me to look like I normally do. You know you look sick when you walk into the oncology office for a follow up and the entire waiting room stares at you. 🤣

I am learning how to rock the head scarves and beanies - thank god for CA fall weather. 

Lest we forget it’s 2020 and covid is literally everywhere, we finally had our first brush with a potential covid exposure at the kids school. Brandt has been a champ through both of his nasal swabs (and 2 negative tests) and has been really upbeat through the entire experience. While it’s been a crazy week, there’s been something nice about having the kids around more. I’m sure I’ll be cursing them and this temporary schedule in no time and be praying they are back to their normal routines. 

While my white blood cell count is close to 0, the tumor continues to appear to be responding to the chemo. I have two more intensive treatments and then we’ll do a few scans to check progress. I’ll begin the weekly low dose treatments the week of Christmas.

Through all of the struggles and changes that have happened so rapidly, I am praying Santa will bring positive news this year that these first 4 treatments are effective.