B Cup Begone! -- Andrea's Story

The second dose of chemo is in the books and Andrea is doing great!  It was bit of a hard week as hair started falling out at an unbelievably rapid pace.  There were a few tears but Andrea is a real trooper, and with her new military-style hairdo, she is beginning to look like it.  She really is a strong woman and I have a hard time putting into words how impressive her attitude has been as she has approached this whole experience with cancer.  She's a superwoman.   I feel like we are at a point in the treatment that not a lot changes from day to day.  It's like driving toward a distant mountain, knowing with each minute that passes you are getting closer, but every time you look up all you see is a mountain in the distance.  After talking with Andrea, we decided it would be okay to move to a new phase of our blog and instead of a weekly update, only post when we actually have something interesting to tell--no need for a weekly hair and make-up...

Why wait for chemo to take your hair when you can do it yourself and have some fun!  This week's big news was Andrea's new hair--short and spiked into a mohawk.  She went with Josie and had some fun trying on the new do.  If you haven't had a chance to check it out on her Facebook page, you can find the picture she posted there. We spent some time this week on vacation to the Grand Canyon, which is a special place for Andrea.  She was supposed to hike from rim to rim with her friends this year while I was going to be the driver to pick them up at the South Rim when they were done.  Cancer changed those plans and Andrea wasn't able to do the hike, but her friends carried her across in spirit with t-shirts that said "Cancer Can Take a Hike. We Hike For Andrea."  It was cool to see them rally around her even though she wasn't able to go. Tomorrow is round two for chemo.  After that, she'll be halfway done with the red devil.

As the guy who doesn't have cancer, walking into chemo treatments with Andrea is a little like watching a wildfire burn with my chin on a shovel while all the firefighters around me are doing their best to contain the flames.  On Monday we spent five hours meeting with our doctor, getting Andrea set up for her for first treatment, and then finally dripping a bunch of chemicals into her port.  It was a surprise to me just how long it takes for people to receive their treatments.  As the nurse showed us around the treatment center during our chemo class a few weeks ago, it seemed like we were the new kids in a strange school and now I know why.  Spending hours every week, or for some everyday, sitting in a chair with a tube dripping into you, you start to get to know the people around you.  We met a couple of funny ladies, a really nice guy that told us the best place to get food, and an old guy that worked the room from the second he came in to the minute he left...

The 4th of July in Andrea's hometown is celebrated intensely with an explosion of amateur pyrotechnics in honor of the birth of our nation.  It is a time of homecoming and family traditions, the kind you might find on a Norman Rockwell.  It was a fantastic week to get together with loved ones and to see Andrea in the most normal setting she's been in for a while.  I'm sure in a lot of ways it was just a calm before a storm as Andrea begins chemo tomorrow.  There is a lot more information available about chemo on Google than what you'll find from me, but after all the time we've spent talking with our doctors, here's what we are expecting on Monday.  The chemo that Andrea will receive affects the fast growing cells in the body and their ability to replicate.  Because Andrea has such an aggressive cancer, the chemo can be very effective in targeting those fast growing cells.  Her first course of chemo will be a dose of adriamycin-cyclophosphamide every...