Baldie McBalderson

     Here's hoping everyone had a satisfying and happy end to 2015 and was able to welcome in 2016 with a fresh, positive outlook for what the new year has in store!  I am looking forward to 2016 as the year in which I will kick cancer to the curb and grow back some hair on my head! Fistbuuuuump!!
     I spent the last few days visiting with a longtime friend who drove a loooong way to come see me, which was lovely and a definite boost to my psyche.  I have been again more easily tired out doing things that I expect would take no energy whatsoever (must constantly readjust expectations), but despite this I am continuing to feel small improvements each day as I move toward Round 3 on January 7.  I joined my son in binge-watching some Mythbusters--science is so cool!! I rocked many hats to combat what seemed like subzero temps when the wind touched my bald head.  I worked on the long-belated baby blanket for my nephew who will be 4 on his next birthday (yeah, that kinda late).  I sorted through about half of an immense mountain of paperwork that, prior to this diagnosis, seemed difficult to tackle because of the amount of agonizing involved over what was important enough to keep and what wasn't; nothing like cancer to make most of the pile fall into the unimportant category!  Nice cancer bonus! 
     What I did not do:  bake any holiday cookies, send any kind of holiday cards whatsoever (which is always a random proposition with me anyway, cancer or not), get December birthday gifts or cards out on time (some family is still waiting...Albuquerque nephew...so patient...again, even without cancer that's an iffy thing to count on with me), or gain any weight during the holidays--ha!! Now THAT is a SUPER cancer bonus!!
     I did have the unique experience on the last day of 2015 of having a group of children point and nudge and whisper and stare at my masked bald-headedness in a grocery store.  I have to admit I was taken aback; I kind of forget what I'm looking like when I'm out and about.  And because I've had kids come right out and ask me why I'm wearing  a mask or why my voice sounds the way it does, I'm absolutely comfortable with being asked a question about what's going on.  Not so comfortable with the point and stare approach.  Perhaps it has happened well before this and I have just been blissfully unaware.  It may be time to don a T-shirt related to my baldness to put the staring types in their place (although these were just kids, and kids have more allowance in my mind to be dorks than adults do).  I'm feeling partial to this one:

Hmmm...is the model included with purchase?

     My first sex-trade professional wig arrived today...I ended up getting two, the popular-vote fuchsia and then the white one with aqua and pink highlights (couldn't resist--a girl has to have options). When the fuchsia arrives, I will pick a day for my social experiment.  Will people stare more at the wigged me than they do at the bald me?  I'm guessing they will. Will they treat me differently--certainly!  It's how they treat me differently that I'm curious about.  
     Next post is Chemo Bag reveal-- I try to keep my promises, as long as I can remember them.  I don't know how much my memory is falling victim to Chemo Brain these days. And apparently the Chemo Brain mixed with a higher dose of Ambien is an interesting combination.  Or maybe it's just the higher dose of Ambien?  My kids reported that I couldn't walk a straight line and was trying to work on the computer with my eyes closed. Note to self:  Take meds right before getting into bed, not well in advance.  And hide the phone and the car keys.