The 100th Post!

I'm a little shocked...and possibly embarrassed...that this is my 100th post! Kinda talking your ears off aren't I? (Or is it typing your eyes out...no, that can't be right....)Well, thanks for hanging in there with me. And in other milestones...with the help of reader comments, I have come to the conclusion that it isn't wine that is causing hives (more on how I know this in a moment). Clearly what's causing the hives is the chemo. Therefore, I'm giving up chemo. After Thursday there will be no more chemo in my life. Ever. It's a brilliant solution. Also, I understand that giving up chemo cures baldness. This is going to be awesome. I'm so glad I thought of it.

So how do I know it wasn't the wine? The weekend of course! I've been so tired (um, yeah, that might also be the weekend) I forgot to tell you all about the fun-filled busy weekend. Saturday night was our dinner with Dr. Karam at Omakase...so basically blog Break-out stars #1, #2 and #4 (sadly, Seamus aka Blogbos #3 was not able to join us; he's still howling about that) were all together in one place. Yes, the place had to be cordoned off with red velvet ropes and the paparazzi was barely kept at bay. And just to arrive, poor Dr. Karam spent nearly 3 hours in his car (a Prius!! ) to get out to Riverside. No, he doesn't live in Santa Barbara, he just got caught in some awful traffic on the 60 freeway. And yet he didn't give up and turn around. What a guy. Luckily the dinner at Omakase was more than worth it. He said he couldn't decide which was better the food or the wine. I suggested maybe it would be the company but he said no, definitely the food or the wine. (We kid. We kid.)

Dinner was fabulous and chef Brien does some just incredible wine pairings so there's no way I could not have a glass of wine. And maybe a sip or two of some of the pairings that went with Chris's dinner. No bad reactions. No hives. This may only mean that in the third week after chemo I can have wine, but hey, that's a start. We finished our evening with a nightcap at Mario's listening to some jazz. We had to make sure his visit was at least as long as the drive out. Oh, and I was a brunette for the evening (photo above). Dr. Karam claims he has emailed friends about the fabulous dinner he had in Riverside (that echo you hear is his friends collectively shouting "In Riverside????" Yes people. In Riverside, California. Omakase. Don't forget it.

We made it to the Festival of Books in time to see and hear TC Boyle (a favorite author) at 11. We also saw a panel on Fiction and Humor, which sadly was nearly ruined by a really crappy moderator who thought she was funny (and she was so, so wrong). But at any rate, Chris and I got to see our old writing instructor, Tod Goldberg, who is basically responsible for our meeting. We even met up with Dr. Karam again (so now we can probably call him Amer; until he puts that white coat on again) to roam the aisles of booths of books and books and books. Yep, two days of hanging with the good doctor and I never had to take my top off! I must be getting to the end of this cancer thing.

I only rested a little at Chris's sister Kati's very cute Beverly Hills apartment (there was Real Housewives of New York to watch!) before we headed out to meet the rest of his family for dinner. Great dinner (gnocchi gorgonzola...mmmmmm) and again I tested the "wine does not cause hives" theory to great success (albeit in moderation). But in hindsight, I can see that schedule was perhaps a bit much. I've been pretty tired these past two days. I think I may have now gotten enough rest.

Which is a good thing, since I had the blood test today which is the official start of chemo week. Tomorrow is the steroids. Then of course Thursday is the last, the final, the never to be experienced again chemo. Fingers crossed it goes as well as this last one. A little queasiness, a little weight gain (okay, 3 maybe 4 pounds...see gorgonzola gnocchi above)--that much I can handle. And speaking of weight gain, we're headed to Pizzaioli tomorrow night for a pre-chemo wine dinner. I won't be having wine (the night before chemo, even I can figure out that's a bad idea!) but I will be carb-loading in preparation! Chris will handle the wine portion of the evening. Look, if you ever have to go through chemo....I highly recommend eaiting and drinking well throughout. It's getting me through.

(PS...Seamus is feeling better. As anticipated, the hard part is keeping him from running around like a maniac and re-injuring himself.)

Wigging Out with the Am-Hair-i-can Idol

Yeah, I can't believe I just wrote that caption either. But, in my defense, if you look over to the right sidebar, you will see that America can now vote on their favorite wig! 7 options to chose from--but trust me, some of them are not really options (I'm testing you here to see if you just really want me to look bad). Okay, I can hear the questions now-- by sidebar I mean over there under the "about me" stuff, not the photo with this post which has more than 7 options.

I promised the Seamus story, and while I pretend you care and cling to my every word and promise, I realize you don't. Half of you don't know that I made that promise in the last blog. So you won't be disappointed if I defer that story a little longer. Because today I went wig shopping and that was just way, way too much fun to not be blogging about. I went over to Cameo Wigs on Arlington in Riverside, as suggested by HELGA WOLF (she is totally technologically hip and thus may Google herself). The owner is Diane Kraft and she couldn't have been nicer or more fun about the whole experience. LAUREEN PITTMAN went with me and of course CHRIS KERN (yeah, he wants the Google hits too) joined us, which was good because you never quite know what a man looks for in his woman until he, uh, hands it to you (the dark wig was his idea. Who knew?). That makes Support Team #4 in this photo.

Diane tucked my hair all up under this flesh net thing. I was never in "theater" so I'm not at all familiar with this, but it seemed like the first little glimpse of what I might look like bald. I didn't scream. Actually I was having such a bad hair day I was relieved to get it out of the way! And then we just started plopping all sorts of "dos" onto my head. It was like being able to get a new haircut and style in two minutes but if I hated it I could just pop it off my head and move on to the next one! It was a kick. As I believe I've mentioned, I've been blond my whole life--it doesn't really occur to me to have any other hair color anymore than it occurs to me to be short (I'm 5' 10"; short is not going to happen). But now my hair could be any color or style at all. Diane styled them, removed them, plopped on another one, played with them--she even laughed at some (as did Laureen, Chris and I) which was good because then I knew she'd give good advice. Laureen photographed the whole thing...well, until she and Chris got distracted talking about recipes and cooking. I'm constantly having to remind people that this is about me!! Obviously tears and nerves were not a problem at all. And Chris got some great dinner ideas. You know, at a wig shop.

I learned about synthetic vs. real hair wigs. Synthetic costs less, doesn't have to be styled or washed as much, but is hotter to wear. Human hair has to be styled daily, is much more expensive but is cooler to wear. And another little test--one of the wigs in the 7 photos is a "human hair" wig. The others are synthetic. See if you can guess which one. I'm going with synthetic--if I can get out of styling "not my" hair and get out the door in the morning faster, I'm all for it. But place your votes. Let me know what look you think is "the look" for me for the rest of 2009, or so. Keep in mind that in these photos I still have my hair underneath so the wigs look lumpier or not as well fitted as they will when I have just skin underneath (oh, and I have a widow's peak--which we kept having to remember, won't be an issue in the future!), and she can style and cut them (i.e. for bangs, or to be shorter) after we fit them to my hairless head (i.e. in about a month).

I also heard back from the folks at the Cancer Care Center with Pomona Valley Hospital. And sure enough they have a free wig program. The lady was again just super kind and made my appointment with the cosmetologist for next Monday--right before we go to chemo boot camp!
The Cancer Care Center sounds like an interesting place where I might be able to find all sorts of information and necessities.

Next week is a busy cancer (which I totally don't have Dad, but you know, I have all these doctor's appointments!) week. Monday I get enrolled in the wig program at 2, then chemo boot camp at 3, then the therapist at 4 (and drinks at 5, obviously). Tuesday and Wednesday I get to be a lawyer, Thursday is chemo #1 and Friday is ??? Yeah, Friday is the big question. Chemo #1, by the way, they give you over a longer period of time--so we'll be there like 5 or 6 hours. They drip it more slowly in case there is any sort of adverse reaction. I'm hoping my worst reaction is snoring.

But I'll be ready--because this Friday night Dad and Nancy (Okay, that's JIM and NANCY MCELHANNON) are taking Chris and I to Omakase for dinner (the wait staff had better be in pink, that's all I'm saying RORYANN CLEMENTS!!) and he's bringing me some sort of "build your immune system" program and then Sunday Chris's folks JIM and TRUDI KERN (no idea if they Google themselves, but I know she reads the blog!) are coming over for dinner and she promises another of the beautiful, soft and oh-so-comfortable wraps for me to wrap up in whilst in the chair. Everyone's visiting now. Whose going to see me when I'm a Russian spy brunette?