WEEK 9: Kylie, The "Fun Room," and Wig Shopping

On April 6 I went down to Teton Oncology in Rexburg, Idaho for my consult with Dr. Dickson. My son Conrad knew of Dr. Dickson and his clinic because he worked with Dr. Dickson's brother at the clinic a year or so ago in a medical research type job. Conrad came to the consult with me since Rich couldn't be there. It was so nice to have Conrad come. As we were heading out, "almost" 4-year-old Kylie insisted that she come as well. We told her it might be boring, but she was still game, so we took her with us.

Dr. Dickson visited us for about an hour, and used a computer program to explain odds and percentages of tumors returning after surgery, chemo etc. With my information plugged in, the mastectomy dropped me to only 30% chance of a tumor returning with no other treatments. Having chemo drops that to 10%. Both me and Conrad knew enough about percentages to know that there's a big difference between 30% and 10%. So no big surprise, Chemo will be part of the plan. Kylie sat so quiet and cute on Conrad's lap. Dr. Dickson asked her a few questions so she could tell a few stories. Then they went and showed us the chemo room. It looks like a big family room with beautiful hardwood floors, a rock fireplace, and recliner chairs all around the perimeter. Near the entrance of the room, there's a nurses station where they had a bucket of suckers, from which Kylie happily took a sucker.

When we went back home Jamie asked Kylie how she liked the doctor's visit. Kylie said, "The talking part was kind of boring, but I really liked the 'Fun Room!'" It just made me smile. From now on, when I go for chemo, it won't be the chemo room, it will be the "Fun Room!" Kylie is so cute - she would look up at me with her big brown eyes, reach up, and say, "Grandma, pick me up and hold me." How could anyone on this earth resist that? So I'd pick her up and hold her, even though I was still being told to not pick up much weight. Kylie is such a petite little "lightweight," I figured it would be no problem. I did pay for it some that night and the next day with extra soreness. But to hold Kylie, it's worth it!

The next day Jamie took me shopping. Clothes have been and will be a problem for a while, because a I'm a little lop-sided up front. Jamie told me I needed to do the layering effect to hide that. We went to a clothing store Jamie knows of - which I thought looked too young and trendy for an old lady like me, and I really don't like shopping anyway. Jamie goes to a few racks, and in a matter of 5 minutes had picked out a stack of tops & told me what to mix with what. Most of the things she gave me to try worked so well! I now have a few new combos that use a camisole, top, and long sweater all together. Wow! Shopping with Jamie is the way to go!

Since I knew that I would be doing nasty chemo that makes the hair fall out, I figured there might be some times, mainly for church and more formal occasions that I might want to wear a wig. So off we went wig shopping! We stopped first at a shop in Rigby. Let's just say that the wigs there gave us more of a good laugh than anything else. Here are a few pics of some of the finer wig selections I tried on there. We next went to another store in Idaho Falls, and had much better luck. She really did have some nice wigs there, so I bought one. Wearing a wig will be very strange. I'll probably only choose to wear one on special occasions. Never imagined myself as a wig wearer! Here are four of my favorites: