a couple things...

First - thank you all so much for your sweet comments on my last post.   Y'all are awesome. 

I'm getting ready for Chemo #11 tomorrow.  House is clean, laundry is done, the frig is stocked, and the ipad is charged.  15 days from now we will be DONE with chemo treatments.  Hopefully forever.

And, a few pictures of sweet Elise.  Here she's watching Elmo. 

She looked extra cute in her new boots.

There's not much better than chilling in a basket full of stuffed animals wearing a tutu and eating M&Ms that Grandma brought in an Easter basket. 

A new favorite place to sit and read books.  I asked her to show me her teeth in this picture.  Cute. 

a little photoshoot

Just keepin' it real, folks.  

This is the hat I wear almost all the time at home.  I call it my cancer hat.  Mostly because no one would actually ever wear these hats unless their head was bald.  And cold.  It's super warm and cozy. 

And this is what I actually look like.  Yep.  Baldypants.

Elise doesn't really care though.

I wanted some pictures of this time because I know Elise won't remember.  I had to survey several people before I had the guts to actually post them.  I know when I was first diagnosed this kind of post was actually a little comforting.  It will be okay.  I'll just be a little bald for awhile. 

tea party

It's been awhile since I've posted.  Haven't taken many pictures.  Finally feeling normal again today.  Well, normal with a cold.    Elise and I are both pretty snotty these days.   

Sorry my last post made everyone so depressed.   I really didn't mean to.   It's just that 10 chemo treatments will do that to you.   I'm feeling much better today.    It could be that just this week I received flowers (Thanks Oosterhouses!), an amazing spa gift card (Thanks Linnea!), and a Starbucks gift card (Thanks Auntie Hen!), and several more cards in the mail.   Wow.  Who knew that a depressing post could yield so many presents?   I'm kidding.  I have amazing friends and family that I appreciate so much.  So thank you -- it seriously brightens my day and makes me feel so loved.   We're almost through this!

Elise and I have been having lots of tea parties lately.   My mom thought she needed a tea set and I'm pretty sure she was right.  The Gootes brought this cute little table back from Ikea last weekend.  It's perfect for tea parties.  Thanks everyone.

In completely unrelated news.... the little (aka HUGE) guy from this post is back.  A little water in my mom and dad's basement forced them to look inside the sump-pump, where they discovered our little friend and his girlfriend.   We had duct taped the top to avoid any more frog-in-the-basement issues, but our little froggy friend returned to his beloved sump-pump home.  My dad had to fish them out - which apparently involved him sticking his head in the sump-pump and cutting his neck.  I was informed of all of this by several phone calls back and forth and eventually I was sent proof:
 
Yes - two frogs in the bottom of a Home Depot bucket with a Coke can as a reference for size so we could never be accused of exaggerating.  Who?  Us?  Exaggerate?  You must be mistaken.  :-)  Anyways.  GROSS.   

10 down. 2 to go.

I had my tenth chemo treatment yesterday.  10 chemos is a LOT.  Holy cow.  2 more to go.  Only 2 more.  Chemo was pretty routine.  My doctor keeps telling me I'm his easiest patient ever.  As long as we keep the hot flashes under control and the Ambien flowing, I do pretty well.  :-)  My white counts were pretty low again so I had to go back this afternoon for another Neulasta shot.  

 We're five months in now from diagnosis.  One more month until we're all done with chemo.  I cannot wait.  Then we have another PET scan and we'll meet with the radiation oncologist to see if radiation therapy will be necessary.  It's a big maybe right now.

I am just SO sick of it all.

 I'm sick of functioning on an every-other week basis.  I get all hyper the weekend before chemo to clean my house, get all the laundry done because I just don't feel like doing it after treatment.

I'm sick of being bald.  So not cute.

I'm so sick of feeling so tired all the time.   I'm so glad I have my amazing family who takes Elise and lets me nap.  Naps are the best these days. 

I'm sick of having no energy to sew, or do crafts and cute things to my house.  Luckily my house looks amazingly adorable thanks to my mom and sisters who have an amazing knack for cuteness. 

Only 2 more.  The end is in sight.

Here's a picture of our sweet Elise watching Elmo last week.  Girlfriend loves her some Elmo. 

Sunday Sledding

Today we had lunch out at the lake.  The lake is still not frozen over, which is crazy because we were ice skating on it last Christmas.  (Who am I kidding - I was definitely not ice skating - other people were.)  We ventured out into the snow with Elise again.  She is not thrilled with snow.    But she looks so stinking cute.