GI-JEN's Adventure: April 2014

Whew...It's been a very busy three weeks since the last blog posting. Doctor appts., Birthdays (Jon, Austin's and Mine), softball/soccer/lacrosse for three of the kids, packing from one house, unpacking/organizing in the new house and spring break in Venice, FL.

I am writing this as I'm receiving my second chemo treatment. Praying that it goes as well as the first treatment where I experienced minimal side effects. Mainly fatigue, tummy issues, mouth sores, bone/muscle aches and just recently, hair loss. We had a hair loss plan A, B and C lined up. Plan A, was a "shaving" party that we had scheduled for a week after my first treatment with my sweet friend/hairdresser Jill Anguiano at Natalia's Hair Salon. We cancelled the party since I was having very few side effects including any signs of hair loss. Plan B, bring Jon's clippers with us to Florida in case I started to thin/shed during spring break. Well, we didn't have to worry about Plan C (hair extensions if I was just thinning) since we ultimately, went with Plan B. We arrived in Florida Saturday, April 5 and I first noticed the "shedding" in the shower on Sunday night. Not a large amount, about the size of my palm in the drain. By Monday and Tuesday's showers, the amount had doubled and then tripled. A couple days of lots of emotions, processing and prayer. Laying in bed Tuesday night and not able to sleep, I Googled "how do you tie a scarf when you're bald" and watched tutorials on YouTube for most of the night. The last YouTube I watched was from a young lady whose name was Esther. Her video was so touching...she was so funny, real and she totally "embraced" being bald. She was such a beautiful and brave person. I was so inspired by Esther and her video that by Wednesday morning, I was ready for the inevitable. I went shopping at Wal-Mart and was able to find lots of really cute, colorful and inexpensive scarfs. Never in a million years did I imagine the "shaving" party would be me and three men, but I'm grateful for how it unfolded. Jon, his son Riley and Riley's friend, Dylan. They were so sweet, supportive and encouraging. A lot of "You Got This" "You're going to Rock it out" "It's just hair" "let's do this"...it was exactly what I needed. Especially my sweet husband who was so gentle, loving and confident with his barber skills. He told me I looked like Sinead O'Connor and we both broke out into her song "Nothing Compares 2U".

Being bald just over a week, I've had lots of funny "bald" moments and revelations. The first time Jon and I took a picture together he had a lot of hair product (gel) in his hair (high maintenance..ha,ha) and we put our heads together to pose for the pic, our heads got stuck together and when we pulled apart, it made a loud suction cup sound. While grocery shopping with my daughters, I discovered that sticking your head in the cooler for milk/eggs and frozen items feels like a "brain freeze"...brrrr. I sometimes scare small children. As with everything in life, you can look for the "blessings" and there have been many with being bald. My typical routine with shower, hair, make-up would take 20-30 minutes. I now have it down to 10 minutes. I don't have to worry about bad hair days. Instead of options like curling, straightening, pulling hair back in a ponytail, I can go with bald or so many scarf/hat options. I love the feel of raindrops hitting my head. I love the feel of the hot sun hitting it....yes, I'm using 50 spf. The biggest blessing is that I've been stopped by women that have been diagnosed with cancer and know they are going to go through chemo and share that they are inspired and encouraged by seeing me openly bold and brave about being bald. For that reason alone, my favorite style and preferred choice is going without a scarf/hat and embracing the beauty of being bald.

As we are celebrating Good Friday today and Easter this weekend, I can't help but to be overwhelmed with gratitude!!! Every day, we are faced with choices on how we react or respond to a person or situation. We can be negative, bitter or angry or we can choose to be positive, loving and grateful. Today and always, I'm choosing to look for the silver lining, blessing, and goodness in people and all situation/seasons and giving thanks for a Heavenly Father that sent his Son, Jesus Christ, that through his death, burial, and resurrection, He paid the penalty for our sin, so that whoever believed in him, would have eternal life!

Thank you so very much for being so loving, supportive and your continued prayers. We have one soccer game, two softball games and two lacrosse games tomorrow, so I'm praying I feel well enough to go and cheer on our awesome kids!

It's neither hair nor there! ;-)

Don't hurl, just keeping it real!