The Next Milestone & some tragic news...

My 1st chemo treatment at the Kaiser infusion center
on Dec. 22, 2008 with Kailee & Yin Ling visiting.

As my hair started falling out, I couldn't stand it, so
Pete's sister Jan helped shaved my head soon after my 2nd treatment
-- hmmm, should I stick with a mohawk?

The Buddhist nun look again for the next few months.
My showers now take half the time!

The bald hair thing is the "classic cancer look" for many of us who go through certain chemo treatments. Luckily, it's winter time & I can wear all kinds of hats to cover up without it being too hot. Jan got busy knitting me some caps in different colors so I'd have a variety & I got others from the American cancer society & from a thrift shop. My brother mailed over my old wig (which I never used back in Hawaii, but kept "just in case"), but the elastic is uncomfortable & Pete thinks I look funny with it on. It's a little over 2 weeks after my last treatment & I still have half my eyebrows & most of my lashes, luckily.

Went to the Rohnert Park Cancer Center on Monday for a CT planning session, where they took some images to begin mapping out how the radiation beams will be aimed -- spent about 3 hours there waiting for the radiation oncologist, Dr. Mark Fields, then the technician to customize a foam mold for my upper body to lie in during my treatments, then have images taken, then for a nurse to do some teaching about skin care issues. So now I have these marks across my chest in permanent marker (covered by a clear bandage) which will then be replaced by tatooed ones once the final plan is confirmed during the "dry run", which will happen on Mon., March 23rd, then the actual treatments begin the next day. So for 5 days/week for 6 weeks (total of 30 treatments), I'll be commuting up to the center which is about 30 miles from San Rafael. I think I'll borrow some books on CDs from the library to pass the time driving.

I also began an "art for healing" class on Thursdays from 10:30 am - 1 pm at the Marin General Hospital's Cancer Resource Center. The 1st session was helpful to help process some emotions -- we had some tragic news about the wife of Pete's cousin, Bryan Yamashita. Asa, who was 43 & his wife of 16 years, was stabbed to death on Oahu by a stranger in broad daylight. She was a school teacher and left behind 2 young daughters (4 & 7-years old) adopted from China. It was such upsetting news of how senseless & violent this was. Pete was closest to Bryan of his father's side of the family of first cousins & we got to visit with them a few times while living in Hawaii. Pete's dad will represent our family at a memorial service tonight on Oahu. He left early this morning. We'd like to send the family some books for the children on grief & healing.

This tragedy brought up issues of trying to survive this disease too -- I don't want Kailee to grow up without a mother or for Pete to become a widower. Just like how my mother suddenly became a single parent after my father suffered a deadly stroke in 1981 when we were growing up. It was really tough for us kids to process his death -- we didn't have counseling resources back then and didn't know how to talk about it with each other. We hope Bryan & his family will be strong and overcome this loss. With all of the negative news out there everyday, we certainly must hold onto how life is certainly precious & try to stay positive and be grateful for what we do have.