Wig shopping, never thought I'd have that one on my calendar! So, to be honest pre-hair loss I really wasn't going to care or worry about getting a wig in the beginning. I figured I'd save my money (they are super expensive) and not waste my time putting one on and taking care of it etc....I'm bald whether you like it or not and if you don't then just look away because even a gallon of Rogaine wouldn't help me at this point.

Then I lost my hair and you tend to think a little different. Not only do people stare, but you also think about the people who have to be seen with you and you don't want to embarrass them or have people stare at them as well. I also thought that if I ever went up to my nephews schools to see them I wouldn't want to show up bald for all their friends to make comments to them (we all know how kids are). Finally, it made me think since nothing else is normal in my life anymore: i.e. working, living alone, finances, having a life, going to school etc... that it might be nice to have one thing that made me feel a little normal still (although a long stretch). So I decided to get one. 

If you've never been wig shopping, I mean lets be honest most people haven't and I was one that never envisioned having to, it is definelty an experience. If I were to compare it to anything I would say shoe shopping at Nordstroms. First, as you can see by the pictures there are several wigs to look at and choose from ranging from all different styles and colors. I knew I didn't want my same straight boring hair but I also didn't want it to look fake. I think I tried on about 10 and honestly hated them all but finally decided on one I thought looked the least fake out of them all even though not very appealing. The whole time you have a stylist putting them on you to fit good/style it etc...just like shoes.

They didn't have the color I wanted in stock, so like shoes, they had to order it. My wig ended up coming in the week I was in the hospital for chemo so I had to wait awhile to get it. When I finally picked it up, just like shoes, she put it on me, adjusted it, and made sure it fit and looked good. Now, also like shoes, unfortunately, you have to wear wigs in to make them look "good". The reason I hated so many wigs was the top and front were so high I looked like I was in the 1980's....not gonna fly. The lady swore it would all go down after a while....she better be right or I may have to learn how to do the running man and roger rabbit soon. Needless to say, I now have a $500 thing that goes on my head to make you think I'm not bald and pass for my real hair...(yes, they are that expensive). 

PS: did you know theres such a thing as wig shampoo and conditioner...shoot me...this thing is going to take more work than I ever did on my real hair lol

I'm just gonna leave this little montage of Prednisone memes here just to give you a glimpse into my life......all so, so true.

I've always said if you don't have a sense of humor, you could never be a teacher. You have to be able to laugh, laugh at yourself, and just laugh at the situations you're in. Well, the same goes for having cancer...so basically don't read my socks unless you can laugh : )

Couldn't be more happy to finally be home and out of the hospital! I got pretty much zero sleep while there and was miserable. For my chemo, I have to have someone come in every 2 hours to do a blood return (basically connecting to my port and making sure I have blood flowing still), then vitals every 2 hours, medicine 3-4x a day, and blood draws at 3am (yes, what a lovely hour). All of this on top of my IV beeping at random hours that they have to come in to fix etc and changing my bags out that are hooked up to me by IV 24-7. Basically, sleeping is out of the question...although its pretty much impossible to sleep in those beds anyway. 

Side note, I felt the earthquake while in the hospital. I was on the 7th floor and obviously in a not study bed...and awake that late since I couldn't sleep. The nurse had just given me more sleep medicine to try to help since the other 2 obviously weren't doing anything and after she left 20 or so minutes later I thought, "wow, this medicine might actually be working and I get some sleep...." I could feel my bed slightly shaking and the hanger above me to help people out of bed was shaking. I thought I was going crazy but the next morning a different nurse asked if I felt it HA, guess it wasn't the medicine and glad I'm not crazy! Sidenote: still didn't get any sleep with 3 different sleep meds...

As for this week, I have dr's appointments (including my shot tomorrow), my VipKid interview, picking up my wig, and then more dr and labs! 

Well maybe it's not a vacation....and maybe it wasn't free.....and maybe it doesn't include anything fun or luxurious....BUT I am officially having a 6 day stay-cation at the hospital this week (M-Sat). At least it gets me out of the house?
So, since my chemo week fell on a holiday week (Labor Day) and my oncologists office is closed on holidays so I couldn't go in to do my chemo, I ended up with this oh so fun 6 day stay-cation. Basically, since I have to endure chemo 5 days a week, obviously starting on Mondays, I had to have a plan B to continue my chemo schedule without getting bumped a week. I didn't want to push my timeline back a week and go into January so this was the only option and health-wise also the best to stay on track.

I'm sure you're wondering why I just couldn't do my Monday treatment in the hospital and finish the week in my drs office....ya I asked that! So to hopefully not be too confusing, when you do chemo in the hospital they are on no schedule or rush whatsoever. When I go to my treatment in my oncologists office, I have a set time, a set nurse, I know how long it's going to take etc. In the hospital it couldn't be more opposite. A perfect example, I was told to get to the hospital at 8:30am Monday to get admitted. I got here, they started all my paperwork and sent my orders in for my chemo bags to start getting ready. I literally didn't get my chemo bag to start in my IV until almost 6pm. Ya, it's ridiculous. So, since everything is delayed my Monday bag won't get done till 24 hours later, Tuesday around 6pm, so I wouldn't have time to be discharged then get to my Dr and start my Tuesday chemo etc. My bags run for 24 straight hours so I literally have to be in the same location the entire week or timing wise it just doesn't work out, unfortunately. So here I am....

I've decided to wear a different pair of fun or inappropriate socks each day I'm here....well, because why not?! I'm also starting to get to wear all the hats I've been sent so changing those out daily also! I do another post later this week with all my socks and hats! For now, I'm just attempting to not be bored and get some sleep since that hasn't been going very well...

Friday, I went to the hospital to get my port FINALLY put in...and I didn't die on the table and they didn't have to abort mission for the second time woohoo! The bad news is, as you can see by the picture, I have incisions on both sides. No, I didn't get two ports. My Dr. initially tried putting my port in on the left side and it was a no go. He then went to my right side and it went ok apparently. So the bad news is I'm now sore on both sides and not just one, but the good news is I wanted my port on my right side anyway so it works out. My procedure went good aside from that and then I FINALLY got my picc line taken out which I couldn't be more happy about! I've been pretty sore since Friday but hoping it will wear off the next few days...below is how I spent my weekend (all iced up)! And of course I totally deserved a PTerry's chocolate milkshake after surgery....especially considering my surgery was at 4pm so I couldn't eat since dinner the night prior or drink since 10am. The picture of the wipe is from my body! One of the crappy parts after surgery is having to get off the orange Oompa Loompa colored cleaner off your body they use (and lets not even talk about the sticky crap from the other machines, that stuff takes days to get off)! I also put a picture of what my port looks like in case you've never seen one (mine is called a power port and is triangular)...

I'm sure not many people would say Cancer was meant to be, but let me give you my thoughts on why I think Cancer, specifically Lymphoma, was meant to be for me! Crazy? I know : )
If you know anything about cancer, there are a ton of different kinds and subcategories of each. Each main "category" is represented by a different color ribbon and celebrate a certain month for awareness. You have probably seen a million pink ribbons which represent breast cancer....but we're not all pink! 
If you know me, you know my favorite color has always been lime green, not just green, but LIME green! Well, what are the odds that my cancer, out of a ton of different colors... is represented by lime green?! Yup, meant to be! (I have other reasons, but I know I would sound totally crazy if I said them!)
So, it's finally here....MY cancer awareness month, September! So break out your lime green (and watch for my shirts to buy that are on the way) and support not only my lymphoma journey, but so many others too!