The final shark hunt begins!  Beginning next Friday and continuing every 3 weeks or so for 18-24 weeks, I will spend the day with the nice folks at the St. Luke’s Cancer Institute while they fill my body up with shark-killer chemicals!  It may seem a little bit wacky to be excited to begin chemotherapy, but after all the post-surgery drama and difficulty, I am really eager to begin this last leg of the journey.  Because it IS the last.  In 18-24 weeks, I can start looking at all of this in the rearview mirror, and that sounds very good to me.  Herman has been swimming in circles around me for far too long!

Some interesting things I have observed:

• There continue to be door prizes – tote bags, pillows, stacks of pamphlets and information, samples of special shampoo, lotion…
• If you make a joke about your condition or treatment, the nursing staff tends to look at you kind of funny and go look up the number for the staff psychologist.
• Valet parking is the greatest public service. If you have ever tried to make an appointment on time at St. Luke’s on the Plaza, you know what I mean.
• It is possible, if absolutely necessary, to drive from 135^th and Roe to St. Luke’s Medical Plaza, hand your keys to the valet and get upstairs for an appointment in less than 25 minutes. I think a bumper sticker that says “God is my copilot and the Holy Spirit is my radar detector” might be appropriate.  Or maybe not.
• Wigs are not the hair helmets I expected them to be.
• I have the best, most generous, kind, and supportive friends and family in the world. There are no better people.  I’ve got them all.  If you are nice, I might share them with you.
• Preparing for a wedding is a great distraction.  Even better than reruns of Downton Abbey!

So, this is what I’ll be doing for the next few months.  I may be kind of tired, and not terribly social as I will have to be very careful about germs and crowds and things.  That doesn’t mean I don’t love hearing from you, or that I don’t need and treasure your prayers.  If you want to read about THAT, check out Resurrection’s Prayer Blog this week:  prayer.blogs.cor.org.

So, off we go, spear gun in hand, ready to eliminate Herman for once and for all.  I am SO ready!  I’ll let you know over the weekend how I did with my first session.  I plan on channeling granddaughter Anna…”I’m very brave….I’m very brave….I’m very brave…I get a popsicle…..I’m very brave….”