The Most ROCKING Head-Shaving Party Ever!!

Oh did we have fun last night! We laughed, we cried, (OK, only I cried), we ate lots of sugary treats and made a big mess of Northwest Children's School. So I've gotten a"head" of myself. I'll start at the beginning.

This is me with hair.  I decided to make a party out of a potentially bummer part of going through cancer:  LOSING HAIR.  We had the party at NW Children's School here in Arlington.  My friend Cathy owns the school and Tari is a teacher there, and they were kind enough to let us completely take over Tari's classroom for the night.  Tari's friends Amanda and Tyler, who work at Salon Chirella, volunteered their time and expertise shaving and providing pink hair extentions to anyone who wanted them.  They did this on Tyler's birthday, which was so kind of them both!

This got a little emotional for me, more than a few tears rolled down my cheeks here. 

It was over pretty quickly, then it was Trudy's turn.

I had maybe a little too much fun giving her a comb-over, and she was such a good sport about it!

Trudy's husband, Jeremy had to help a little too.

Tari getting shaved by Cathy.

Susan is getting her hair chopped for Locks of Love. (Trudy did too, but I don't have a pic)

Well, here are the new and improved Mower Sisters!  I still can't believe this.

Angry at the world.

The 5 bald ladies: Susan, Trudy, Me, Tari, and Jamie.  I felt so SUPPORTED!  I'm glad to not have to gone through this alone.  Doesn't my leg up make it look like we're having fun?!  Always works.

We surprised Tyler with a birthday cake and a loud rousing version of "happy birthday to you!"  I'm sure he was exhausted, but he didn't even pause to eat cake.  Too many heads to shave!

Ellie loves feeling my head!  I was worried that she'd be freaked out about it, but she's ok.  I think she likes it!  Poor baby has an ugly scab on her nose.  Alfy's accident.  Couldn't be helped.

Trevor and Travis getting shaved... Well, almost.  Trev had big plans for his head. 

Well, Isaac surprised us all and requested a mohawk!  He was surrounded by a bunch of his friends who were all doing similar things with their hair.  White trash?  Perhaps.  Fun?  Definitely.  I told Isaac he could wear his mohawk to school ONE time, then it was coming off!  ;) 

Yes, Cavin did it too! It was CRAZY last night.  I had no control over what may or may not have happened.

Trev is thinking to himself, "I don't feel PINK enough".

Now, that's better!

What a fun night it was, and there was so much more going on than I had pictures of.  Almost every woman and girl present got pink streaks dyed in their hair, or had pink extrentions put in.  Most of the men and boys ended up either bald or with some sort of pink mohawk style on top.  Probably a million plates of cookies were consumed.  Most of all it was fun being surrounded by friends and family during such an important night for me.  The doctor told me that before my hair falls out on it's own, my scalp would get tender and feel like I just took out a tight pony tail.  Well, my head felt like that all day on Saturday.  Perhaps a little reassurance that this was the right day to do the hair party?



Hangin' Tough.

Well, I decided to entitle this post after my favorite New Kids on the Block song.  Yes, apparently things DO get hard when you're on chemo, and I have been experiencing this for the past 3 days.  Ugh.  I have to admit, after Saturday came and went (that was the 3rd day after chemo - the day that "they" said would be the hardest), I felt a little smug.  Hey, this cancer thing ain't so bad!  Things were going good, my dear friends and family in Everett put on another amazing garage sale to raise money for me, and worked so hard to make it a success.  I felt so loved and supported.  (still do) Sure, I've felt fatigued and a little heart burn-y for a few days, but who doesn't - right?! 

But Sunday morning HAD to come.  The best way to describe how I felt is to imagine being hit by a bus.  Every muscle ached, I got the chills, the sweats, my throat hurt, waaa.  I don't know how that bus specifically targeted my throat, but it did.  I felt miserable.  Even so, I decided that I wasn't going to disrupt our family's routine because of this, so we got ready and headed out the door to church.  Dumb.  Half way there, I was crying and we turned around and spent the day at home.  Trevor's so good to me, he TOLD me church was not a good idea, but I was stubborn.  Anyways, I am getting great care at home, Trev and the kids are amazing.  And just let the record show that the snack boy at home is way hotter than the one at the hostpital! Trevor did have to leave to go pick up Isaac around 2, but Trudy came over and spent the rest of the day taking care of me and Emma and Ellie.  It was so weird, I think I took 4-5 baths that day, I just could not get warm when I got those chills. 

Anyways, I went in to the doctor Monday and it turns out they think I have a viral infection.  Which is GREAT because I take that to mean that chemo won't always feel like this.  I'm much more succeptible to catching any little sickness that's floating around now, what with my suppressed immune system.  So even though things are hard right now, I can look forward to my future treatments w/out dread, because this isn't going to happen each and every time.  The doctors tell me to treat myself like a newborn baby.  Wear diapers, and drink lots of milk.  No, wait, I think they mean to say don't let sick people come around me.  I WILL catch the sickness, so I need to be careful.  Hand washing, sanitizer, clean environment...

Today is Tuesday and definitely was better than yesterday, which was better than the day before.  Here's to hoping tomorrow's better, too!  I am so thankful for the selfless service that I recieve on a daily basis these days.  Susan spent the whole day up here, having left her own kids w/ Guiellermo on his 1 day off.  Two friends were here this morning cleaning my house top to bottom, and a delicious meal was promptly delivered right at dinner time.  As has been the case day by day for the last several weeks. 

One more thing: This coming Saturday we're having a HEAD SHAVING PARTY!!  So, if you dare, come check out the action.  You can shave, go pink, do a pink streak, or just come and have fun watching...  The grand event will start at 7:30 pm at this address: (not my house) 3833 168th NE Arlington WA 98223.  It is Northwest Children's School, my friend offered to host it there so I wouldn't have to clean my house or stress in any way.  I think it will be nicer to shave the head surrounded by love and support rather than cryin' in the shower alone one day while clumps fall out. 

Sorry 'bout the long post.  But nobody made you read. ;)