Hi, friends! There hasn’t been a lot to report over the past several weeks. I’m mostly recovered from the surgeries yay and enjoying regaining some of my fitness, eased back into work this month (so wonderful to see my much loved work family again!), and researched and made decisions around my next steps for treatment, which brings us to today’s update. 😊

Here I am for my first of four chemo cycles. They refer to it as “chemo light” … but there really is no chemo light, it's toxic and there still is potential for lots of side effects. I am asking for your good vibes, thoughts, and prayers for minimal side effects for me as I navigate chemo over the next couple of months!!!🙏 

Now let me explain the elephant in the room! I’m wearing a cooling cap, which has a 70-80 percent chance of keeping 50 percent of my hair. Lol, worth it? We shall see! The cooling cap circulates cooling fluid to keep my scalp at a certain temperature, with the theory being that the chemo chemicals don’t circulate there thus protecting the follicles and potentially preventing major hair loss – we can all stay tuned for those results (“shedding” usually starts between days 14 and 21). www.coldcap.com if you’re curious, definitely an interesting apparatus.

I’m also wearing icepack mittens and booties during the taxetere infusion to try to prevent or minimize neuropathy (nerve damage in hands and feet). Similar theory to the cold cap, cold preventing the chemicals from circulating there. I have to say the mitts and booties were quite* challenging to get comfortable with – so cold that it was very painful particularly on the nails. Kristen (she's back for a short stay!) was helpful in removing and replacing ice packs in the booties when I needed a break. Thankfully that segment of treatment lasted only for a little over an hour.

With all that cooling action, the nurses gave me a heating pad for my chest area, so I am not a total popsicle. I did make everyone laugh this morning when I mentioned how cool I look, my unintentional pun for the day!!😂 

One bit of excitement was my immune system reacting to the taxetere. My body was like, hell no what is this stuff?! Within about five minutes, I became very hot and my airway began to restrict – apparently I was bright bright red as well (you can kinda still see in the pic where I have oxygen tubes in my nose though Kristen says I was much much redder than that.😬 The nurses were all over the situation, stopping the taxetere to administer benadryl and steriods, then after a short break my body handled the taxetere just fine. A stressful moment, though, to be sure!, though the nurses say it is a relatively common reaction. 

In addition to Kristen and the nurses, another thing getting me through today is watching Pema Chodron courses and doing the accompanying meditations. There's a cool website called DailyOm where I've purchased several courses over the years, and I got Pema's Getting Unstuck course for my chemo journey -- it's great. She also has written some wise and helpful books, and I consider her a teacher of mine. 

Well, that’s the update on this end! Thanks for the continuous flow of helping hands and good wishes. I feel and appreciate the support!!!😍 🙏 🙌 

With love and gratitude,
Leslie