There it goes

Carlene is doing very well. She feels great, looks wonderful, and her spirits are high. We went in for labs yesterday, and the chemo nurse said she wants to put up a poster of Carlene as an example of a patient who is figuring out how to get through chemo. The nurse said her positive attitude is a key to getting through it. High praise for someone who has only been through one treatment. But I think the nurses expected Carlene to have a bit more trouble than she has. Today her hair started to fall out. That's almost right on cue according to the timeline they gave us. Carlene has an appointment Monday with a lady who is going to take her hair off and fit her with her "cranial prosthesis." If her hair starts coming out by the handful, she may have to go in earlier than planned. We are going to a show at the Air Force Academy tonight. Carlene applied some extra hair spray in order to hopefully keep things where they need to be for one more evening. I've offered to shave my head in sympathy, but she doesn't want me to. Her second chemo treatment is Thursday, the 11th, at 10:45am.
We've been trying to keep up with normal activities as much as possible. Unfortunately, we haven't been to church, and Carlene had to skip Kaden's 5th birthday party last week, attended by a gaggle of Kaden's buddies. (We got to celebrate at Kristin and Andy's house with him after the party.) She is trying to avoid public places with large groups of people where she might catch a virus. Her white blood cell count could be low, and we don't want her to become ill and have to miss a treatment. It's important that she stay on her 21 day cycle to keep any possible rogue cancer cells on the run.
Please pray that Carlene will be protected from illness that would stop her treatments, that a rash on her back will disappear, she can continue to sleep well, that she will not have bone pain from the Neulasta injections, that she can keep her exercise going, and that the loss of her hair will not be too traumatic. We appreciate all of you so much.
God is on His throne, and Jesus is sitting at His mighty right hand, interceding for us all.