Coming out of the Fog...

I think I can finally say that I'm done with the side effects of chemo #3.  While it was better than my last chemo in some ways (less nausea, less emotional ups and downs), the fatigue really caught up with me on this round. I pretty much slept away the days between Wednesday afternoon and Saturday, which I guess is ok - my body was working hard fighting off those bad cells! I made the mistake of trying to go into work on Friday (I woke up feeling good), and after swearing to my co-workers that I was fine, I ended up lasting less than 2 hours in the office before I could hardly keep my head up (thank goodness I work 4 minutes from home!). But I seemed to snap out of it by last night and feel human again, thankfully.

A few highlights from the past few days (and some pictures below to illustrate them):

- We attended Colin's daycare Christmas program Wednesday morning.  He was the youngest child in the show and just adorable - a complete ham in front of the crowd.  That is, until Santa showed up on the last song and he ran screaming into my arms.  So cute but so sad (and all captured on video!). We also decorated our Christmas tree as a family on Friday night which was a lot of fun.

- My dear grad school friend, who lives here in Neenah (and works at my former company), not only brought me dinner on Thursday but also organized "Team Amy - Illinois Chapter".  I was so touched to receive a packet of more than a dozen letters from my old grad school crew, organized and compiled by Hannah (thanks so much....to any of you reading this!).

- And finally, I had the experience of all experiences last night.  Ed's UW Oshkosh music students organized a concert in my honor, with the goal of supporting me and raising funds for breast cancer research.  I can't even tell you how touched I was by the level of effort they went to.  The brass quintet (decked out in pink ties!) was awesome, the other performers were great, and the students even organized a final group "number" for me.  Earlier in the week, his students had also presented me with a huge basket of goodies.  I can't say enough about the kindness of our Wisconsin friends. And about how much the students obviously love Professor Martin!

We're on our own for the next week-and-a-half since my mother-in-law, who has been a tremendous help, is leaving this morning.  But hopefully it will be a pretty normal "off" week before this whole fun cycle begins again (my mom arrives on my next chemo day). Please keep sending me all your positive, cancer-fighting thoughts! I was somewhat encouraged by the progress my ultrasound showed earlier this week and am hoping it continues.

Colin's daycare holiday performance

Almost a family picture!

The boys posing by our tree (hard to get them to both smile - they aren't crazy about pictures!)

The final number at my UW Oshkosh concert