It is after 12:00am as I write this. Turns out that Day 4 after chemo still means you sleep quite a lot but then you are wide awake! I mean, wide awake because you slept most of the day away and now you just aren’t tired! Brilliant, I know!

There were some other fun things that happened with chemo. Some additional highlights from the whole thing were me texting Ana around 3am after the second dose and begging (yes, begging and I’m not so proud to deny that that is exactly what I did!) her to please get me some IV saline or just SOMETHING to go straight in my vein and take care of this! She actually did text the doc and he said ‘no.’ Well, alrighty then!

Twice a day we have to go to the first floor to get a Filgrastim injection. This shot helps pull the stem cells from the bone marrow and makes them easier to harvest. I was such a mess that I couldn’t go down and they had to come to the apartment the morning and evening of 6/5. On 6/6, they came up and Dr. Juan Carlos ordered up a drip! This consisted of 10(!) hours on an IV filled with anti nausea, steroids, and saline. I did start feeling better by mid day but mostly just a step above the death that I was feeling.

The building has a rooftop patio. A lot of people go there to visit, or just get out of the room for a bit! We have been trying to go at least twice each day. I DID NOT make it to the rooftop the day of the drip. I did make it up the next day, which would have been Tuesday, June 7.

We have what Ana has dubbed The Gossip Phone (TGP). You are given TGP when you get to Clinica Ruiz. It’s a place where patients can ask questions and ask for assistance. You can also make Wal-Mart (can’t even escape that place in MX!) orders and find the Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner menu posted every day. As a side, the only thing that you really need to know is that Thursdays are Mexican Breakfast! The other thing that TGP tells you are ‘fun’ activities that will be happening on the rooftop. We have Monica who is the Clinica Ruiz Activity Coordinator. I don’t know if that is just one of many roles, or what but I’m guessing that this part of her job used to be more significant before COVID when you could take tours of the city, etc. Anyway, over TGP comes a text saying that since Groups 1&2 will be getting their PICC line on Thursday, a Head Shaving Party has been set up! YAAY! And yes, that yaay is sarcastically dripping from my fingers as I type. Well, Ana, Dick and I were already on the roof and once I’m situated, I’m not in a huge hurry to move around. There were maybe 12 people. I was totally on the fence. Do I do this now, or wait a few more days? I was also an emotional wreck! Was it chemo? Hormones? Chemo and hormones? I didn’t know! I just knew that if there was any chance that I would be in front of a group of strangers and be red faced and crying like an idiot, then there was NO CHANCE that my head was getting shaved! Seriously, I only know Ugly Cry. I mean, for those of you that actually look lovely when you cry, how do you do that exactly? My eyes turn red, my face turns red, my eyes swell. It’s really bad!

So, I sat in my chair and vacillated. At the very end, I believe Daniela (also works here but I’m not sure of her official title) walked over and asked if I wanted to go. My emotions were somewhat in check, so I said OK. Of course, the ladies doing the shave said wonderful things about hair color and texture and head shape, and blah, blah, blah. I know that they were just ‘saying the right things,’ but it did actually help in this situation. There is that expression of “You Can’t Bull Shit a Bull Shitter.” On this day, I took that crap and didn’t even roll my eyes!

TL;DR – Chemo really does stink and I shaved my head! AND, this pic is of me with no hair and no makeup! WTAH!