Comin at ya live from 4 am!

Did you know that the world is super quiet at 4 am and the sound of typing might as well be thunder for how loud it seems? Well now you know. And so do I. #thankschemo

Yesterday was rockin! I woke up feeling super excited about going to chemo, which is weird. I was just so excited to finally get started and get rid of this thing! I went to school, and it was the last day of our spirit week, so we had an assembly. I made my lip-syncing debut in front of 1,000 middle schoolers, so that was a big moment in my life... Not saying it was a super proud moment, but it sure was a moment.

This is my "I'm so excited to dance in front of the middle school and also to get chemo" face.

After school I rushed home so Michelle could put numbing cream over my port/incision so that when they put the needle in the port it wouldn't hurt as much. We were worried the cream wouldn't soak through the glue that's holding my incision together.

I headed to chemo like a champ and I went back alone this time. I chose my seat/cubicle and the nurses were super nice and so fun to be around. I had a much better attitude about everything yesterday, and I think that really helped me get along with the staff. It was a 100% difference from my experience last week and I'm so grateful. My port was hooked up to an IV needle and I was so scared for how much it would hurt! Spoiler alert: It didn't even hurt at all! Getting hooked up through the port was sooo much more comfortable than having an IV placed. Modern medicine for the win!

First, I was given a steroid (not that kind of steroid - sorry, no future Tour de France winner here) and an anti-nausea medication that made my eyes dry. It's so weird how different parts of our body are connected. Maybe to someone who studied anatomy instead of poetry it would make sense that when something is injected through an IV, you can suddenly taste it, but to a poor English major like myself, it's like something straight out of Harry Potter. #magic

I was then given my 4 chemo drugs: ABVD. I would tell you what they all stand for, but I can only remember Bleomycin (and I only remember that one because it's what I named my stuffed leopard from my neighbors).

Meet Bleo. Who could resist those eyes?!?

I felt fine getting the chemo; I was just tired and my body felt kind of heavy, like I was moving slower than usual and doing things took a little more effort. Overall, I was at the treatment center a little over 2 hours. Mom and I stopped at Iceberg for shakes on the way home - a trick that my school PTSA President passed on from her time doing chemo. It's actually supposed to help with nausea! Ice cream for the win!

Last night, I felt fine, just tired and slightly nauseous. It was a little odd because everyone told me I would be wired due to the steroid and wouldn't sleep. I went to sleep fine, thinking to myself, "wow, steroids don't even affect me!" Seeing as how this post is being written at 4 in the AM, apparently they do affect me. Just a little. ;)

We will see how today and tomorrow go, but I'm feeling good about thing so far. Also, GREAT NEWS! My bone marrow biopsy came back and it's perfect! This is HUGE happy news! It means that the lymphoma hasn't spread to my bone marrow and is still stage 3. I'm extremely grateful and I feel really blessed. Add that to the list of sentences I never thought I'd say: I'm feeling blessed to have stage 3 lymphoma.

Another bright note: my first chemo hats came in the mail! They shipped to my parent's house. Here's hoping I pull them off as well as dad!