so far so good, but please keep praying!

I am sitting up in bed, feeling a little weird but better than I'd hoped. I can taste a weird metal taste in the back of my mouth and my stomach feels a little funky but not really nauseous per se. I have been able to eat some toast and soup made with a special broth that is supposed to put back into my body the vitamins and minerals that chemo sucks out of me. The recipe is in a great cook book for cancer patients called, "One Bite at a Time." It is great. I don't think I could eat much more than that at the moment. The rest of my family enjoyed a lovely meal that was brought to our home. It was so very helpful not to have to cook for everyone, and we had made up the broth ahead of time. It worked out perfectly--thanks to those bringing meals to us, I don't have the words to thank you!

The infusion went really quickly, I think, because of the venous access port that they put into my chest during surgery. It gives them direct access to a major vein in my chest which can take the chemo medicine and whisk it away into my blood stream because the blood flow is so good. The nurses are just great, really nice and super helpful. I was grateful for that and thankful to those of you who were praying for good nurses!

Thank you for praying for grace and peace today, it was resting on our whole family. We were all really calm today and ready to begin this leg of the journey. Over the weekend I was struggling with some fear of what this would be like, but being a "pre-processor," by the time today came, I had processed through my myriad of emotions and thoughts and felt prepared. Please be praying for Ron, he is more of a "post-processor" and so where things hit me before, things hit him after. It works out for us as a married couple, at least we are rarely freaking out at the same time...bonus.

**Please pray especially tomorrow (Friday) and through the weekend. They said that I would probably be okay tonight but that tomorrow is usually the hardest day and can last 3 days or so. I have 4 different anti-nausea medicine in my right now, but some of them will start wearing off tomorrow.

**Please also pray for me emotionally as I was told that my hair will most likely be gone before my next chemo appointment, approximately 10-15 days. I know that Kathleen, the great nurse practitioner that is working with us, told me that it would be in 2-3 weeks, probably 2, but somehow 10 days sounded a lot quicker. It caught me a little by surprise. I know it is possible that I will not loose my hair, but it is very probable. I figure it is better for me emotionally to be prepared to loose it and be happily surprised if I don't than the other way around. My brother, Rich, said, " you prepare to loose your hair and we will pray that you don't!" Thanks for joining in that prayer.

**Again, please pray that the chemo will only effect any cancer cells it might encounter and leave the healthy cells alone. Pray that the Lord will lift the side-effects of which there are many (even the list of side-effects for the anti-nausea medicine is sort of scary!).

**Also, please pray for Hannah, she thinks she might be getting a cold...that is NOT what we need right now in our home.

Thank you so very much for your faithful prayer, I know that the grace and peace that was on us today and the fact that I am up and typing tonight is witness to the your effective and fervent prayer on my/our behalf. Our God is very faithful. Lovingly, Leslyn