Six Days until chemo #3! 8/9/06

Hello all- I am 6 days away from chemo #3. I am trying to get things done in these days that I am feeling pretty good while I have the energy. I am at about 60-70% of my normal energy level, and have actually gotten a few projects done in the last several days. My headaches are not very bad and I am beginning to feel twinges of nerve prickliness or little shooting pains that are very brief in my legs and hands from the Taxitere chemo drug. The doctor told me that would be the worst the 2 months after I am done with chemo and would take up to 2 years to totally dissipate. So for right now, I am doing pretty well. I have to tell you a couple of funny stories. I have been told several times that my wig looks great on me, but it also is very different from my own hair style before. So a few people who I know VERY well have not recognized me when I saw them. I walked past one person I know very well at the office 5 times one day when I was there for staff meeting, and at the very end of the day I said something to someone in earshot of her. She yelped and said she had been wondering all day who the visitor was! Two of the people who work at desks right by mine hadn't seen me yet. I came into the room and was doing something at my desk with my back to them. They both stood up, looked at each other and one of them asked if they could help me with anything. I turned around and said hi as recognition gradually dawned on them. We had a good laugh when they admitted that they really didn't know who I was at first. Another friend was looking at the blog picture of me with my friend Lisa. She read the caption and thought, "OK, that one is Lisa, but who is the woman with her?" Another friend at church was talking to Greg while I was a few feet away talking to someone else. He asked how I was doing and if I was able to get out at all. Greg told him I was standing right next to him. He hadn't recognized me at all until he knew to look a little harder. Someone else at church walked by and Greg and me, and we said hi to her. She looked and Greg and me and made a face like, "Who is that woman with Greg?" Then she looked at me harder and a miriad of thoughts went across her face until she gradually recognized me and said how much she liked my new hair style. She thinks that it might be a good one to keep afterward. Her expressions were priceless. So thank you especially to my family who never know how I will look when I come into the room. I go from wig, to scarf, to one of my little hats, to just a baseball hat, to plain old bald. My head sores have healed, so that isn't as bad. I don't think I will put a bald picture on here. I scare myself when I look in the mirror and wouldn't want to give you that memory. Lisa Horn and probably my friend Deb Sanders who did my SisterLuke updates last time I had cancer are planning to go with me to chemo next Tuesday. Chemo actually starts at 10:30 or 11:00 and will go until about 3:00 or 3:30. Slow seemed to be better last time, so I am hoping for the same this time. Thanks for tuning in for this latest update! Blessings- Nancy