the hair project has officially ended

I decided that since
1- my hair was getting annoying and
2- it was longer than I normally wear it, and I grew it out from that length a couple of years ago and
3- I really just wanted to see if it would be curly and
4- it's not

it was time for a cut ...

A friend's recent cut-and-color inspired me to perhaps add some color of my own. I had never dyed my hair before. I wasn't sure I was going to today. I knew the cut I wanted, and I picked a color :)

Here are the results of today's trip to the salon:



Funky, no? I'm kinda diggin' it. I'm not sure I'll get it colored again, mainly because there are other things I'd rather spend money on (and the chemical-ness of it was kinda gross), but it was fun to do :)

it's been a year :) and other misc tidbits

Well, it's been a year since my first negative PET scan :) The docs are counting time from when chemo ended, which isn't for another several months, but I'm celebrating from the first sign of no cancer!!

One year down, 65 to go ;)

Also, I've been working out regularly, sometimes with a trainer. While it's frustrating that I'm not nearly as strong as I used to be, it feels good to exercise hard. I'm grateful to be back in that routine.

I have gotten together about 100 pages of my cancer book. I still have a lot to go (I wonder if it will be too long?!?), but it's been fun and interesting to work on it!

And last, if you see a Summer 2008 copy of "Spirit of Women" magazine, look inside — there is an article about me in there!

hair project

Here are pics for July, a little overdue. My hair is long enough now to be called shaggy. The back always turns out. I am likely to get the back trimmed in the next few days. I'll ask them to trim the underside a little shorter than the outside, so it turns under.

I've been thinking about how I'm going to have it cut/styled when the hair project ends, either at the end of 2008 or when I get sick of my hair, whichever comes first. Suggestions? Parameters: must be wash and wear — no product, no hair driers. Limits the options, I know...

this is dang expensive...

I received an e-mail from my health insurance company, asking me to look at something on their website, so I logged in. While I was there, I checked out "claim history." Of course, it is extensive. I downloaded it and used the "sum" function, just to see... Now, before I give you my partial running total, a detail: My insurance changed last summer, so this total is for the last 12 months. It does not include my 3 trips to the ER, my hospital stays, my first two (three?) chemo treatments. I am thinking about contacting my previous insurer to get numbers for all of that.

OK, that said, the total for July '07 to July '08 was $136,111.77. Chemo, radiation, doc's appointments, blood draws, PET scans, PICC lines. I expected it to be more than that, but that's still not chump change.


And I haven't forgotten about the hair project pic. I should have it up later today. If not, definitely tomorrow.