Day 18: Preparation

I am feeling pretty good today. The fatigue is kind of a constant factor. I feel like I am 3 years old again and need my nap each day in order to function.

A lot of neat stuff happened today. Our dear friends, Karin and Bill, came over and helped us paint our office. We have never really had time to set this space up properly and since Jason is going to have to work from home more now to take care of me, it is critical that we get this done so he can do this efficiently. In the next couple of days we are hoping to add French doors to the room so that he can have some quiet study time when needed as our house is rarely quiet.

The neatest part of the day for me was at the end of the painting time I was able to sit and talk with both Karin and Bill about all that I was going through. They had a lot of questions about the side effects the chemo brings and how I felt during the process. I find that I really enjoy educating people about this as I really don't think people realize all of what goes into actually receiving treatment. I am not doing this for my own sake but my thoughts keep going back to my grandpa that battled cancer for three years, receiving treatments the majority of the time, and I was clueless to all that he had to deal with. I knew it was rough on him but I had no idea how rough. My heart breaks because I didn't know these things. I want to educate others so that when someone else comes into their lives that has cancer they know what they are going through and can provide support in the areas that are truly needed. I know that there are some great programs out there that already provide this type of support but I think the more we all can be educated about these things the better.

I have already started mentally preparing for Wednesday. I am still really trying to enjoy the last few days before my treatment but I can't help but to start gearing up for it. I tell myself that I can do it, it will only be a few days and then I will feel better. I visualize all of the cancer cells in my body dying because of the treatment. (I have to tell you the truth, this visualization helps a lot!) It reminds me of the days when I use to run competitively. So much went into preparing mentally for the race. Who knew that God was actually preparing me for so much more than just a race at the time.

I have continued to receive so much encouragement for my writings here on the blog. Thank you so much. Sometimes I think that no one could possibly want to read these but the encouragement keeps me going. I wanted to give a shout out to all of my friends that I saw at church tonight. Thanks for loving on me and just continuing to lift me up throughout this whole thing. I love you all!

Okay, so I know some of you are just waiting for the Funny of the Day's so I will get to it!

1.) My sister and brother came over to continue to paint my kitchen for me so I am blessed to receive my sister's beautiful painting ability and my brother's sense of humor. He was painting one of the walls in the kitchen and he doesn't even bother taking down the curtain. He paints right up to it and then stops. My sister tells him, "Cole, you need to take down the curtain and paint there too." He says, "Why? No one will see it." She tells him of course people will see it she sees it. He comes back with, "Well, I am actually saving my sister money by not wasting the paint to paint there."

2.) My wonderful husband let the youth group kids shave his head because I will soon be losing my own hair and he wanted to show his support. By the way, there is a great deal of footage of this on Jason's Facebook page if you are interested. Anyway, he is explaining to the boys that he did this for me because the medicine the doctors are giving mommy will make her lose her hair. Creide, the ever so funny 3 year old, comes up to me and says, "Mommy, I have been sick and daddy gave me some medicine and now my hair is going to fall out too!"