A few good days

It’s been a good few days, and each one gets better. I can’t know if it’s a sign of things to come or just that the first round of chemo is long gone. I expect it will get tougher with each subsequent treatment, but for now I’m feeling like myself—and that’s a real good thing.

My appetite is healthy and I’m game for just about anything except tomato sauces and sweets. Someone had a birthday at work on Thursday and her group brought in a chocolate fountain with the usual treats for dipping, from strawberries and bananas to marshmallows and more. I couldn’t get away from it fast enough. That’s so unlike me.

I enjoyed the company of family last night over dinner at The Horseshoe Grille here in North Reading (Been there? It’s fabulous! The old restaurant was torn down and a beautiful new one built in its place, check it out.) Dave, PJ, me, my mother from Maine, brother Ted (whose hair style I will rival in days…) from Wilmington, my aunt and uncle Nancy and Mike Thornton from East Kingston, NH, and their daughter and my cousin Kathy Bennett from Wilmington and her daughter and son Lauren and Connor. Nice time, lots of laughs. We don’t see each other often enough. It’s easy not to take time for gatherings like that one, easy to blame the myriad constraints on our time. I’m learning those things aren’t as important as time with people you care about.

So, I feel good. Really and truly.

What’s next? Blood work on October 4, at which point my white cell count should be as low as it will go for this round (it takes 10 days or so to bottom out, then it should start to climb). Then I go for blood work again on the 11th, followed by Chemo #2 on the 12th.

Before all of that comes a hair cut. It’s starting to come out, not dramatically yet, but it’s beginning. I can run my hands through my hair and come away with multiple strands in my fingers. I need (mentally) to ease myself into it, even though I know it’s coming, and go from current length to short, even for a few days, before buzzing it away.

When I look like my dear brother, I’ll snap and post a photo. You can vote on which of us is cuter.