long session today

She had an early appointment and was up and out of the house by about 7am. Today was both the "spinal tap" version of chemo and also a shot. The spinal tap is similar to the way they'd do an epidural but its a little higher in the back and a smaller needle. After they do that, they needed to keep her laying down on her back for the next 3 hours. All in all, I think her and my mom were over there from about 7:30am until about 1:30pm or so. Definitely not the 5 minute ordeal that they had yesterday. Now that we're getting through this first week, we have a better idea of what to expect with the appointments and should be able to tell which ones are 5 minute appointments and which are half day events.

She has another appointment tomorrow (Thurs) and then we're on break until Monday. Overall, she felt pretty good today but her body was definitely pretty achy. In addition to the time at the hospital for the administration of the chemo, she definitely spent more time in bed today than she had the previous couple of days.

It's been a while since I listed out thank you messages... First off, thanks everyone for continuing to check in and post comments. We're grateful of all the continued support and the recognition that even though she is home and the cancer is in remission, that we're still facing a long battle ahead. Also, we wanted to thank the Smitty's (neighbors) for the nice card and wonderful gift. Thanks to Stephanie for the card and nice note. Thanks to John, Elisa, Johnny, Anthony, and Nicki (neighbors) for the nice balloons for her welcome home and their continued support.

Also, I received a voice mail today from Dale Knause, a former co-worker, friend and fellow Pittsburgh Steelers fan. Although, I didn't get a chance to talk with Dale, he is also working with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training to help raise awareness and funds to help fight blood cancers. Dale's family unfortunately has first hand experience with a cancer similar to Anna's. Dale will be running in the Marine Corps Marathon this coming Sunday in honor of his relative and will be thinking of Anna (and our family) throughout training and the race, which really does mean a lot to us. Thank you Dale. You can check out more information on Dale's efforts or contribute to the cause from his Team in Training webpage.

Whether you choose to donate to Kathleen's efforts, Dale's efforts and anything having to do with LLS at all is, of course, completely up to you. I do ask that everyone picks a cause (any cause) and go do something. You don't need to run a marathon or anything crazy like that. I can assure you, my fat ass won't be doing that anytime soon. You don't need to contribute money. I know the stock market has taken enough of that away lately, but find something to do and I'm sure that not only will it help, but you'll feel pretty good about it.

PS. While I think it was great that she was feeling up to shopping yesterday, let's not get carried away with all the positive comments contributing to her shopping habit.