Looks Like We Made It (knock on wood)

Cue Barry Manilow...
Day 12 post chemo #2...no white blood cell crash. Or red for that matter. In fact, I feel pretty good. I am hopeful that the worst of chemo round 2 has passed and I will get to be a fairly normal person (oh, shut up) at least until chemo round 3 (April 9--yep, right before Easter).

I spent Sunday trying to stay in my happy place--they say it's all about the attitude (and believe me, "they" say this a lot. I hear it all the time. I'm not sure if that's because people think my attitude sucks or is good. I just know it's all in the attitude). I found three separate "happy" places were involved. I felt well enough Sunday to go into work. I'm not really a workaholic. But I like my job. I like my clients. I love my office. And it felt good to get in and get a few solid hours of productivity in (it's also good in the "oh good I might not starve and I might be able to pay the office rent and my mortgage" sort of way). So I was happy. For a few hours. Then I started feeling not so hot. Back home I went. And back to bed. Which is where the second happy place was found.

No, no, not like that. I spent couple of hours napping and reading in bed. I decided to go with a little more serious reading but also sticking to the fantasy/fun theme. I'm reading "A Day in Tuscany" by Dario Castagno-- an English speaking Italian who gives tours in the Chianti region. I spent more than a few moments daydreaming of past and future (just not this year) Words & Wine trips to France. The common denominator is wine, in case you are wondering. But also, just the joy of travel (the photos are from our 2007 trip; and those are our friends Rich Gold and Gary Berg), which is definitely a happy place for me. It just so happened Rachel (our friend and partner in France) posted to her blog about spring in Provence starting to arrive--so you should check that out. This Provencal Life. You can find a temporary happy place there too.

And then, happy place number 3 came to our house. Walked right up to our gate. Our friends and neighbors Dave Wright and Vince Price stopped by with their new family member....a beagle!!! They adopted a beagle (prior name Snoopy; may be named Rusty now...it's a work in progress)!!! That's him over to the right--he's a good looking dog. Seamus loved him! And Seamus hardly ever cares about other dogs (except Michelle Ouellette's dog Will. Seamus heart Will. Totally.) Seeing two beagles run around playing and knowing another beagle was rescued and found a good home--that's a happy, happy place for me to be. So we had a mini "Beaglefest." And Chris did point out that we were at Beaglefest on Day 11 after chemo round 1 as well. Things went well today though--so we can't blame the beagles for the crash. That's my scientific test and I'm sticking to it. Beagles = happy place and all good things.

I did have a killer sore throat by the nighttime and had to resort to Nyquil for that and the cough that was creeping up. That meant I slept well. By this morning, I was good enough to go to work. And by coming home for lunch, steroids and a nap, I was good enough to go back to work and then make it to the Inland Agency's "Shop to Stop Breast Cancer" at the Marriott with Valerie Zucker and a few hundred other folks, mostly wearing pink. I opted to be subtle in my purple "Cancer Vixen: No Breast Left Behind" T-shirt and black and purple and several other bright colors head scarf. More on that event tomorrow. I've got to pace myself, you know.