Countdown to Chemo

"Soft Hats" from Just in Time, Inc.

So what do you do when you find out or decide that you will be having chemotherapy? I'm sure that varies from one woman to the next and it also has a lot to do with how much time you have before treatment begins.

You know you will probably lose all you hair including eyebrows and lashes. So here's what I did about that.

I had my sweet hairdresser cut my hair short to help ease the transition.

I made an appointment with a lady who has been doing "permanent cosmetics" for over sixteen years and had her tattoo eyebrows for me. She turned out to be a lovely person who shares my faith in Jesus and who lost a sister to breast cancer, so we had a lot to talk about. After I knew I was satisfied with the eyebrows and still had enough time before chemo to heal from another procedure, I went back and had her do upper eyeliner also.

I thought for about five minutes about getting a wig. Nah.

I looked for hats and head coverings online. I have never been into scarves much and am not good at tying them. I ordered some hats from http://www.softhats.com/collection/spring-summer and I will probably order a few more from https://www.headcovers.com/   I ordered some "buffs" from http://www.planetbuff.com/newest-buff-collection/2013-spring-collection.html  yes, like they wear on "Survivor", although I've never seen even one episode of the show. My talented daughter, Erika, got right to work knitting me a cap that I can't wait to receive in the mail from Iowa.

OK, so that takes care of the vanity aspect.

I filed a new claim for intermittent FMLA so my absences from work will be "job protected" and I called Aetna back  to deal with the two mistakes they've made so far on this one. I counted up my days of accrued paid sick leave and pray I won't exhaust them and have to deplete my accrued vacation and then take unpaid time off.

I went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned earlier than scheduled.

I picked the brains of friends who'd had chemo and I found a thread on www.breastcancer.org for women who are being treated with the same two chemo drugs I am. My friend, Susan, even lent me her notebook she kept during chemo where she recorded questions and answers from her oncologist, her symptoms, her pre-chemo shopping list, and lots of other helpful information.

Armed with my own list, I went shopping. I have ginger capsules for nausea, Claritin and ibuprofen to counteract the bone pain caused by the Neulasta shot I'll need after each chemo treatment, and L-Glutamine to try to minimize neuropathy, which if it affects my hands, could make it very hard for me to work. I have special toothpaste and mouthwash and extra soft toothbrushes, cream for dry skin, heavy duty sunscreen, antibiotic ointment, hand sanitizer, cortisone cream...etc...Trust me, you don't want to know it all.

I experimented with recipes for smoothies and pureed bean and vegetable soups so that when it's hard to eat and I only want comfort food, I might at least manage to eat something nutritious.

I bought a bottle of my favorite chardonnay and made it last three evenings.

I had a delicious and delightful lunch at a Thai restaurant with ten of my closest friends.

And when I was down to under 48 hours, my husband took me out for Tex-Mex, which I love, but don't expect to be able to stomach again for awhile.

Now that I'm down to 24 hours, I'll be drinking lots of water, so I'll go in hydrated, and my dad is taking me out for lunch.

My sweet husband loaded one of my favorite fun movies, That Thing You Do, onto his laptop so I can hopefully watch it during my chemo infusion. If you've never seen it, you really should - makes me smile just thinking about it.