Still good. And thankful.

Isn’t it sweet that, with Him and great friends, the Lord can make even chemo good?! We are still doing really well.

I’ve loved having the girls here. And loved having my college friends intermingled with my Dallas friends. I’ve eaten a ton of Gulleys cookie dough, laughed plenty, delighted in Mel’s book (our Big Mama is soon to be ‘Big Time’ though it’s the big-time-friend to me and Gulley that we love the most), listened to Scott interview her to the point where Gulley thought maybe he was vying to be her agent, felt their love, and was really blessed as they took care of the little man during chemo and for post-chemo-coma. They even got to be here to hear him say his first in-context word and hand signal – he waved bye-bye to his little same-age buddy Tucker yesterday and then told Mel ‘bye-bye’ with a wave when she left. And that was nice since earlier in the week at his one-year checkup, I had to tell the doctor that he’d completely failed (no exaggeration) the communications part of a survey they gave us. I guess he just waited til the girls got to town to bust out the communication skills. They love him and he loves them!

I hope they’ve had as much fun as I have. Laughter and friends really are the best medicine. But this high dollar stuff is pretty great too. It’s ome über-drug for fighting nausea that I take once for first 3 days and so far it’s working. My pee was bright red (degenerating from boobs to pee…) but, besides that, everything seems pretty normal. I can count that all joy. Thanks Lord! And thanks to y’all for praying! So far SO SO GOOD. Great in fact compared to possibilities of throwing up all night. Most common side effects are nausea, hair loss (taxol beat ’em to it), worse hot flashes and night sweats, immuno suppression, muscle loss, and fatigue. But there are drugs for all except fatigue so I got some scripts and a lecture. The lecture was (another) about keeping active and going because that’s the only antidote. So, South Dallas girls, I’ll be back to see you tomorrow! If I’m gonna be up and at ’em and ‘active’ on a Thursday, I want it to be w y’all. So I’ll be back at Baylor for a shot at 9 (something about helping keep white blood cell counts up) and down for some good times and good stories with y’all shortly thereafter.

Back to bald and another reason for thanks … Pinky has a new baby sister. We might name her Spunky. Because she’s a little shorter and a little blonder and I’m gonna wear her as my ‘fun do’ while upgrading Pinky to my ‘good do.’ Last week I felt it was only appropriate to try to reach out to the friend of a friend who had passed Pinky down to thank her. I did a little email recon and found a new friend – A. We will call her A bc it’s one thing for me to talk about my boobs but entirely different to talk about hers. A is the generous woman sharing her wig – whom she’d named Elin because before she cut it she said looked like Elin, Tigers ex-wife. When I wrote to thank her, she offered another wig – so kind! So now I have two blonde wigs but also a new friend. We had a fun visit on Saturday about all-things-hair-loss (including my 6 remaining eyelashes and skimpy brows), uncertainty about the ‘survivor’ title, surgeons, reconstruction, and wigs. I realize that few of you are in the wig market but she had a friend who knew a lot about them and knew where to get the best of the best and now I’m the beneficiary of some seriously fancy wigs! Wanna guess the prices?! And while I think Spunky is crazy expensive, Pinky is even significantly more. And since A, in a very-informative-and-far-from-braggy-way, enlightened me on the going wig-rates, I thought you might find it intriguing as well. Who knew?! Not I! Do you?! You can cast your 2 cents worth in a comment and I’ll get back to you. Oh and that was not a hint. It would take a LOT of 2 cents’ to buy either. Though that just sounded like subtle solicitation. I’m not suggesting 2 cent donations. Just curious at others’ comments and guesses because I was clueless – and shocked. And all the more reason I’m thankful for the unexpected gift because no-way-no-how would this have fit in our non-existent cancer budget. Noone budgets for cancer or wigs in family money talks. But then again we didn’t budget for the c-section of our unexpected child without maternity coverage (self employment insurance doesn’t include) either. But we still have a roof over our heads and plenty of food and (as Mel said tonite) are ‘rich in what matters.’ With Jesus and y’all, we are loaded!

Pinky is back at her stylist for a refresher and overnight with her 4 kids. And dont you know that Laney, Bo, Rhody and Hank have all had a turn wearing Pinky?! I love it. Bo (5, I think) came with her to bring her back last time and told his mom that he really liked our house and wanted one ‘just like it – only bigger.’ Classic. Maybe I should have given him Scott’s business card.

Speaking of kids, I have gotten a little
more in touch with my inner child with Gulley and Mel here – combined with Gigi’s insatiable desire for fun and pranks. We may or may not have rolled a house last night. And now I’ll know if that fun friend/family reads the blog to the very end and or got bored when I trailed off into budget talks.

Thanks for the prayers, texts, comments, emails and concern about our new drugs and new normal. I am so thankful. And wanted to let you rejoice with us in more unexpected mercies. And unexpected joys. And the gift of friendship.