Day 60: Happiness and New Beginnings

Wow.  It has been less than a month since my last blog post, but I feel like my entire world is different now.  I have so many thing to report to you all.  Apologies in advance for this long blog post.  And, of course, this being a blog, it's pretty much all about me, so further apologies for talking about myself and posting pictures of myself shamelessly.  It's self-indulgent, but it it's an easy way for me to keep you all updated and have you share in this experience called life.  No one is forcing you to read this, after all :-)

Where to start?  How about with the fun stuff? 
Joe proposed to me while we were in Europe two weeks ago. We had just finished a delicious dinner in the beautiful little town of Delft, Holland and were walking along a quiet, beautifully lit canal when he proposed. It was perfect and I wouldn't have changed a thing.  We headed back to our quaint hotel, which overlooked white-lit trees and a small canal, toasted to our engagement, and called our parents.  We are very excited about planning this phase in our life.  While we both know that a wedding won't happen for over a year, it is nice to have things in motion.  Here are some photos from our lovely trip, where we visited Amsterdam, Haarlem, Delft, The Hague, Bruges, Paris, and Brussels.  It was perfect.

Engagement Photos
After we got back, we found a photographer to take some shots of us at the Art Institute of Chicago, which is where we met.  These are preliminary shots from the photographer's website (Jen Soares Photography -- she is great! -- check her out at: http://jensoares.com/), but I thought I'd give you a sneak peek.

Hair
Also, I visited a wig shop last week and found my wig.  I'm happy with the way it looks.  Given that I'll be at work supervising my group and holding meetings with external contacts, I wanted to get something that looks the most similar to my current hairstyle.  I  may mix it up as I go through this. People have said they hate wearing wigs, but I want to try this, and if doesn't work I'll just use it for special occasions.

A before and after of me in my new wig

Before

After

They'll thin out the wig a bit and make some changes to the final fit once I go in, but I really like this salon. They are big on having me tell people that I got my hair glazed and that's why it looks so dark, luscious and thick.  It will be fun to have such a nice head of hair after years of dealing with my stringy locks!  Let's hope I actually wear it....at least to work and back each day. 

Chemotherapy -  1 down, 7 to go
Finally, I had my first chemotherapy treatment today.  My mantra for the day was "You have to start in order to finish."  Last night, Joe gave me a present from his wonderful sister (and my future sis-in-law!), Melissa -- a "Bonnie Kicks Cancer" chemo countdown board.  It is something we posted in our kitchen and to help me mark off the number of chemo treatments we have left.   So, today, I was able to put a checkmark on top of the "8".    Seven, you're next, so watch out...

Chemo went fine while I was there. The Northwestern breast cancer chemotherapy facility is beautiful. I had my own room, with a bed and a couch, a DVD player, and a lovely view of Lake Shore Drive and Lake Michigan.  I should have taken a photo of the view, but here's a shot of me getting one of my infusions.  See, I'm smiling! It's not every day you get two hours of uninterrupted time to read an interesting book. 

I still can't believe how far medicine has come even just in the last 10 years. I am still reading "The Emperor of All Maladies" and it is eye opening.  Examinations of the white cell counts of victims of mustard gas used in WWII found that a derivative of that chemical (called Cytoxin) was helpful in reducing fast growing cells. Doctors were able to develop the entire field of chemotherapy based on that and other amazing discoveries around the same time and have continued to improve upon it.  It just goes to show that good things can happen despite evil...and I am grateful to all those people who came before me to help improve our knowledge of the human body.  I think about them. Every. Single. Day.

I did my treatment very early today and was home by 11:00am.  I took a nap, drank a LOT of water, and still feel a headache and a little queasy, but for the most part I'm doing okay.   Mr. Stanfield has been keeping me company and han't acted differently towards me since my diagnosis at all. 

SUMMARY

You have to start in order to finish. 

Today was my big start.

Happiness is in the air -- Joe and I are getting married, we had a successful fertility treatments (more on that later), and are excited to start our lives together. 

And, I can't wait until my next chemotherapy session.  Why?  Because I want to get closer and closer to the end.   The only way out is through.  I'm in this.  I'm committed.  We're winning this fight.

Love and Peace and Joy and Health.