Lizard and virus.

The picture today is of me and my lizard friend, yesterday at Snow Canyon. See him on the opposite side of the post from where I am? You can see here how long my hair is getting, too! This is longer than I ever let my hair get, but I’m seeing how it works with the curl. It’s curly everywhere except the right side right in front and it’s just regular hair for me. If Gretta were here I’m sure I’d ask her to cut it. We may go to her house for Thanksgiving, and if we do I imagine I’ll come home with a haircut.

In this picture you can also tell that I cover the right side of my chest when we’re at the pool; you can see that the right side is not as tanned as the left side. Maybe on a brave day I’ll have Don take a picture of how I’ve altered my swim suit, but I’m no swim suit model, so probably not! Linda, I need you to pose me!

This hair is so interesting to me. I can’t help but think if chemo did this to my hair, it’s no wonder that I can’t count or concentrate on anything; it curled some parts of my brain, too! The main point was to shrink the cancer and kill any roaming cancer cells. It did shrink the main tumors, so I pray that it also got anything that was roaming. So far as we can tell there is no cancer anywhere. I’m grateful that I was in good shape and strong enough to take the chemo without anything worse than curly hair and brain and ugly toenails. I’m so absolutely grateful to be able to wear shoes and walk and even hike! Curly hair and flat chested are fun for me. I’m sorry for women who have a hard time giving up their breasts; it’s just not an emotional happening for me, so I’m grateful for that, too.

I’m so pleased that I’ve learned to manage the gap in my teeth, too. I just sleep with a little band on my teeth and it keeps the gap gone. If I forget to wear it I’ll notice the gap coming back, but it goes right away when I wear the band again. I’m managing the lymphedema very well with exercises and the sleeve, too. The sleeve is a nuisance, but I can live with it.

We are staying at the Plaza until our time starts with our timeshare on Thursday. I’m really looking forward to that! The Plaza is okay, but it’s not nearly as nice as the condo will be. I’m so ready to wash our clothes, which we can do at the condo! Years ago we stayed at Gretta’s condo and we were hooked; we haven’t liked hotels since, but sometimes we have to take what we can get. I thank God that we usually have wonderful places to stay when we are away from home. We make good use of our timeshares.

When we got to Vegas Friday we found Jeanette all stuffed up with a virus Jessie was just getting over from the previous week. Well, I got it. This time last year it would have been a big deal because I didn’t have any immune system to fight it. My immune system is back up to par, so I’ll be fine in a few days. I spent most of this afternoon in bed since I didn’t have anything else to do and I thought rest would be the best thing for me. I feel good except for this head virus. I just hope it doesn’t go to bronchitis like it so often does with me. I’m ordering an herb to keep it from doing that and they’ll come to the condo.

I thank God for an immune system and herbs to fight off bugs!