Things start to get hairy - or hairless

    As if life wasn't fun enough with a large family, house in the middle of a remodel, kids in 3 schools, afterschool and church activities, etc. I get to add cancer to the mix. Life always has a curve ball or five to throw our way it seems. We have landed in big changes of life that you aren't "supposed" to do at the same time often in our marriage, so why not do cancer mid remodel. 

    For those who don't know, we are adding another room in the top half of a two story room in our house. Pre-diagnosis, Husband, myself and some Helpers had worked together and put in everything necessary for the floor. We had the beams and decking down and were ready to move into wiring lighting for the lower floor room and putting in some A/C ducting. We decided to add a half wall along the top of the stairs that we will build book shelves against to make as good a use of the space as we can. In the end we wanted to wall off one part of the current open loft area and make another bedroom and storage room. Then the new floor would be the new common area of the upstairs. We were excited but things were going slow.

    Then Cancer. We called in reinforcements to help get things taken care of that we don't have time or energy for. We are at a point where it is starting to feel like things are getting to be what I want them to despite Cancer messing with things.

    We are also hitting the point in the school year where I feel like things get all spun up again with activities, needs of random items for projects or field trips. We get really busy in the Spring. I am the one who tends to take on getting kids to activities, and supporting and volunteering wherever help is needed. It's a full-time job and I am really sad that this will mean I miss out on some of the things I love to do. I love to work the bookfair at our elementary, I love helping kids figure out how to get the most bang for their buck. I love seeing familiar faces and helping them find a new favorite book or sharing with the 5th graders how I have read most of the books written for their age level because sometimes I am pretty sure I'm only 12. I will miss doing things with our Girl Scouts and helping them achieve new things. I will miss helping to sit and be with the kids on field trips. Setting up and planting the produce garden, hunting all over town for the next new plant to add to the flower beds. I know there are ways I can help with some of these things, but I'm sad I won't be able to do a lot of them in the same way as I would other years. Mom said with everything going on it is like we already had a tornado going in life and then Cancer added a hurricane. So, let's pray to keep it that way until things calm down and pray to not have any added any tsunami's.

    There are a lot of things I am going to miss out on this season. The important things in life remain - I am surrounded by friends and family who love me. We have a strong church family and I am blessed immeasurably by their love and service. I have a Husband who will hold my hand when I want to cry and laugh at the many many dumb puns and jokes I come up with each day. I have Kids who love me and are always willing to share a snuggle or smile with me. I have a Mom who has given up much of her time to be here to help keep our family boat from rocking too hard. I have my faith and my love of God. 

    Things are hard, things are different, but they are good.

    Today we worked on making some cards using some supplies Sister sent me as a prize in the mail. It was fun to have Kids and Mom focus on something fun with me. They aren't done but we made progress even if it got hairy for a while.

    Speaking of hairy, I am starting to lose my hair. I haven't noticed a lot of thinning in my scalp yet, but I am sure it's coming as I have seen hair come out in clumps from my nose (yes, girls have nose hair too even if we don't talk about it much) and eyelashes. 

    While we are on this topic, why was I not allowed to tic a box that said I would like my leg hair and armpit hair to fall out first so I could ditch shaving sooner rather than later? I mean this girl was dreaming that I could skip shaving before I lost all the hair - I was dreaming so much I already threw out my razor. I'm ready for that to start...any day now. 

Tomorrow will mark round 2 of chemo.