Day 17

Sunday May 9, 2013

Nice early start this morning and we had breakfast at Gourmet Express in Porter Square, Cambridge. Nice quiet place for breakfast on a weekend if you like great food with your peace and quiet. I hate eating in noisy bird cages.

Today on our agenda is to go to Sears and get a new microwave and toaster oven. We did our review research online and found a few things that we liked. Now it’s off to the store to check them out.

We’ve got our new stuff home and we’re going to see our friend Kay’s oil paintings on display at the Habitat Education Center in Belmont. The Habitat is a great local place to bird watch, take pictures of nature and sign the kids up for the many activities that are held here. I just found out about the Habitat and plan on visiting often and take pictures.

Kay is a very talented artist that paints everything from landscapes to flora to portraits. The setting for her reception couldn’t have been at a better location. The Habitat is a 90 acre wildlife sanctuary that has some of the most beautiful natural surroundings. And since the paintings on display were inspired by her walks in the Audubon Sanctuaries it really brought out the connection from what you see during your walk and Kay’s interpretation onto the canvas. You can check Kay’s paintings out at her website.

Well the day is coming to an end and I’m losing more hair as the day passed. I think that I’ve got to buzz the sides cause there all blotchy and Ill looking if I take the hat off. It’s just the way that it is falling out. So I gotta buzz it out. It’s going to look pretty stupid, but it’s all going to fall out in a few more days anyway. 

I’m going to make my lunch for tomorrow, buzz my sides and call it a night.

Day 16

Saturday May 18, 2013

Today is an awesome day outside. I’ve got a couple of errands to run and I hope that I can enjoy the great outdoors while I’m out.

I took Ronnie’s advice and went to Spencer’s to get a Scally Cap. Drove with the top down to the Square 1 Mall and let my hair fall out on to the cars behind me. I had my face mask and hand cleaners on me in case I need them.

Spencer’s had 2 hats so I got the Rasta one and figured I’d check the other stores while I was there. I found a store Lids and all they have is hats, mainly ball caps, but they had a small selection of Scally caps. I found a couple that I really liked even if I wasn’t losing my hair and got one there as well. So now I have 2 hats, one for work and one for going out. Soon as my hair grows back I might even keep wearing these things cause they’re kind of cool. Thanks Ronnie!

I did enough walking around the mall, but still need to do some more later. The high pollen hasn’t really been bothering me so I don’t see why I can’t get my fat ass back on my bike.

Well I got home and farted around for a bit and walked a mile and did some training on my wooden dummy and swung my sticks for a while, then figured I’d take a nap cause I have Tong Ren tonight at 5:30 and I slept right through it. I’ve got chemo this weekend and I won’t be able to go back until the first of June.

Even more of my hair is falling out, might have to do something about it because it isn’t falling evenly and looks like something you’d see in a horror movie.

Day 15

Friday May 17, 2013

Another awesome day at work today. My energy was high. I was very productive and focused in my work, almost like none of this was happening.

I stopped to talk with some of my brother’s in baldness throughout the day.  Most of them shocked because I have a head of hair and I shared with them what is going on and was surprised by what I learned.

A couple of the guys had cancer and have just kept shaving their heads. Others have lost their hair at an earlier age. Some still keep a little, but most shave it off. I never would have been able to have a deepened respect for some of the guys that I work with if I just kept to myself, did my job and went home. I’ve made a lot of friends at work that I’m proud to call friends!

I think that sometimes we can glance at someone and pick their surface apart and make false judgments. Then once we learn more about someone and the trials that they’ve gone through in their lives it can make you wonder how they got through it all. How it made them a better person.  How they can appreciate more of what everyone else is taking for granted. 

No pain at all today. The only challenge that I had was keeping the hair on my head from falling out all over customers desks. 

Got home and took a shower and about half of my toupee was in my hands. I’m sure that by Monday I’ll be left with Charlie Brown’s hairstyle. That’s how fast it’s falling out.

I need to work on bringing my weight down safely by 10 pounds before I go back for chemo. This will help balance out any extra weight I gain eating extra to feed the medicine. The weight is an issue for me because I have 5 pinched nerves in my back and a lower lumbar injury from the 90’s. So the more I weigh, the more I ache, the less I weigh, the less I ache.

Day 14 – The beginning of the end!

Thursday May 16, 2013

As expected I woke up feeling great, full of energy and ready to take on a day of work. 

It’s Co-op Season at work this month. What that means for me is that some people, they wouldn’t be in HR cause they could never let something like this slip by year after year, well these people think that they will get the same response they get when a single new person gets setup in the workplace as would a hundred new people all at the same time. Idiotic, I know huh?

So basically everybody wants everything at once. I wish it worked that way, but it doesn’t and your answer is no, is basically my response because everyone that knows me will call and ask can you do me a favor? I got a new intern that needs to get setup. Can you do me a favor? I have half the plant calling me and asking me to do them a favor, can you save your favor for something that you really need and not help sailing the sea of stupidity.

That was work today. That will be work tomorrow and the day after that…..

But, this is Co-op Season! I get to meet some of the new talent that is going to get their feet wet over here. We only pick the best of the best. Seriously only the top of the top of the class does internships here. I watched new interns from a few years ago start as engineering grunts and move up to management and lead engineering roles in a couple of years. I think that’s just awesome! 

We get a lot of people that once they understand how to run with the ball on the project that their on, they shine, and they shine bright! We have an awesome leadership program here that really gives these young minds an opportunity to really learn from veteran aviation engineers that have been in the field 30-40 years. So I get to see some old faces returning for another internship and hear about the last project they worked on and what their moving into now.

I went to the Dr. today for a checkup on the lymph node biopsy that was removed. Dr. said that everything is looking just great. They did an awesome job! They really did! It looks good. The scar will fade. It’s healing well because I’m taking good care of it.

Now the fun part. Hair loss is in my immediate forecast. I brushed a glob out this morning, at work and when I got home. There isn’t anything I can do about it except bitch like a whinny child.

Here’s what I wonder? Why the @%^ing hair? Everything you go through in life, it’s the hair! I work with guys (gorillas) that are walking hairballs with no hair on their heads. We’ve made some great strides in medical research and technology, but we can’t keep the hair on our $^!^$ heads.

Why can’t it be different?!? Why can’t I go the doctor and find out that I have cancer and he says something like, well I’ve got some concerning news about the side effects of the treatment that you going to receive. I don’t want you to worry, but, I don't know how to tell you this…. You’re going to lose the hair on your legs.  It’ll grow back. I see you have a lovely coat of hair on your legs, it’ll just grow back thinner, but it’ll grow back. Of all the hair on the human body why the head?!?

So now I’m hunting for a scally cap. That might take my entire Saturday because it’s something that I want. Anyone that has ever been on one of my personal missions knows what I’m in for. I could be looking for money in a bank and I’m not going to find it because I need it. Like the bathrobe. I couldn’t find a bathrobe. Bathrobes have a season! And I dared look for a bathrobe off season.

Why a Scally Cap “The Dellag” Cause my Brother from another mother Ronnie told me so! If he says that’s the hat, then that’s the hat I’m getting.

I’m going to take some silly pictures as it falls out. Some with a comb over, some without. I’m going to get a couple of different dress shirts that I hate and take pictures with friends just to see if other people know just who their in the photo with.

Ya gotta have fun!

If I can’t have a laugh at my own expense through this, then I lose the battle.

So I’m going to get ready to join my brothers in baldness. I know, you’ve been waiting for me. I’ve seen the sneering snickers you’ve given me over the years. “One of these days”, “One…. Of…. These… Days…..”, (magical poof cloud) BALD!!! Then he’ll know what it’s like. 

I don’t know how you guys go around the way you do. If I can’t have a plush garden, then off with it! No ring around the top for me! No well it grows nice and full in the back. Like the top of your head is the search tower for the hair in the back. Some people have a head of hair and some people look like there is a head growing atop of their hair. Like moss around the bottom of a rock. Bald or not I love you guys and I'm ready to join your silly little club!

Day 13

Wednesday May 15, 2013

Working from home today cause I got the Dr’s at 10:45. Itchin to see what my blood work results are.

The doctor said that my blood counts a great, platelets are good and everything is normal.

I’m scheduled to return for my 2^nd cycle next week and do it all over again.

Everything was going great, couldn’t be better… Until the toilet handle broke.

 %^W@^!

I just got set up to relax and chill before I did another mile on the Gazelle. Now I gotta fix the toilet cause I’m not going to reach my hands in there to flush it every time. It’s a $5 fix that’ll take 5 minutes and I’m not even going to complain about it to my landlord cause it’s so petty.

%$^@!!!

That was easy, but I’m by no means a Plumber. Brian my heart goes out to you. I can only imagine the nasty ^&#% you must run into on the job. I was thinking I should replace the wax ring while I’m at it, but I’ll hold off until I have my immune system back because of the mess it’ll make. If you have a dog that drinks toilet water and you think hey that’s cool I don’t have to leave out a water bowl. Go into the bathroom and take the basin cover off and smell the water. Betcha leave the lid down from now on Genius!

Well I just finished up updating these posts and it’s 9:20pm. Time for a shower and I’m calling it a night.

I feel a lot better and I don't feel like I'm going to have a problem going to work tomorrow.