This Wasn't The Week I'd Planned

So as luck (or science... or prayer) would have it, my white blood cells came back up and I was able to get my treatment on Monday. I had been rather pessimistic about my white blood cell count, especially since I'd been very sniffly all weekend and felt that all my extra white blood cells must be going to fight that. But it was a nice surprise and I was glad (how ironic) to get the injections.

Oddly enough, the treatment didn't hit me as hard as the last time. My friend from NYU, Jackie, came over to "babysit" me that afternoon. She does a lot of that in general, and said I was better behaved than most of the kids she looks after! As we were talking, I told her that at some point when the drugs really hit me, I would just randomly get up and announce that I needed to sleep. That's how I remember the treatment hitting me last time. But instead, after almost 90 minutes of hanging out, I still felt decent. Not great... but not "I need to sleep NOW" bad. I'm grateful that this round didn't knock me out as much as the previous, but I think it's also made the recovery process less easy to mark. I remember last time being encouraged that the first day was a 2, the second day was a 4, and the third day was a 6. This time, all three days just seemed like a 4-5. It's hard to be encouraged by no marked daily improvement.

Nevertheless, day four started like a 5 and ended like a 7, so that's good! I was nauseous and tired in the morning, and ate very light for lunch. But sitting here, typing on the couch to you, I'm stuffing my face with baked lays and starbursts... so something went right! My friend Jack texted me the previous night to see if I wanted to go see A View From The Bridge with him tonight. Though I wasn't feeling great, I said yes anyway. If I can sit on my couch and watch TV, then I can sit in a theater and watch live people do what people on TV do. Plus, I hadn't seen a show in a really long time, and this one looked really good (Scarlett Johansson and Liev Schrieber in an Arthur Miller classic!? These are the things that get me excited!! I was trying to think of two sports stars in some type of big sporting event that was comparable, but I got bored and decided to move on with writing the blog). ANYWAY, I went, had a great time, and proved to myself that I can still do something that I have always loved doing (even 4 days after a treatment).

I have to say, the other big booster of my spirits this week has been my almost eight month old nephew, Luke. Now, most people know that I have NEVER been a children person. But something about just looking at a picture of him makes me smile. I mean, watch this video of him playing peekaboo in the bathtub and tell me that you're not smiling!!??!! I can't tell you how many times I've watched that in the past few days. I hear he may be coming to visit me soon, and I'm super excited! :-)

This weekend I'll post more pictures of famous Ryan hairstyles that I've received and found in my own archives. I've also received several hats in the mail and will model those in pictures for everyone to see too (trust me, some of them are a hoot!)