Tuesday, January 6, 2009 9:58 AM, CST

Hi Everyone,
Just a quick update. I’m scheduled for a PET scan on January 7. The first one since I’ve been on this new protocol. I’m hoping the indications they found on the chest x-ray are true and that I’m having a positive response to the new drugs. I will get the results on Monday, January 12. I’m very nervous.
The end of the Holidays went well. I did venture out of my house with my ugly head and I did ok. My first party was on New Year’s Eve and I do have to confess that I found a corner and didn’t move from it. My second party was Saturday night and I did feel a little bit more comfortable and actually walked around.
Wendy Dion was sweet enough to run out and buy me some hats right after she read my last posting so I would feel better. Thank you Wendy!!!
I’m still considering a wig and will check those out in the next few weeks. Although everyone who sees me tells me that it’s not that bad, I do feel like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. I’m not a Lord of the Rings fan but have seen enough of those movies to know that Gollum is the freaky thing that lives in the rocks and calls the ring Precious.
Some people have said, “Wow you have more hair than you indicated in your post.” And I guess I do. I’m still doing my hair as if I had a head full: I still use my volumizing shampoo (which just cracks me up), my mousse and a blow dryer. It doesn’t take me much more than four minutes to do my hair, which is a plus! I’ve also felt and seen little stubbles growing in. Lots of people have told me that my hair might come back thicker or curly so I’m a little excited to see how it does come back.
One thing I know for certain: I’m pretty sure I freak kids out. They look at me weird. I can feel them looking at me and squinting their eyes as if trying to figure out why exactly I look so different. That’s the hardest thing to get used to. Now I know what it’s like to walk in Katie’s shoes. Kids stare at her all the time and most of the time she raises her head and shrugs it off. She has more practice than me. I’m trying to get better at it.
Some people have suggested I wear a scarf on my head. And like I told my Mom, when I was a little girl, I wanted to have a whole bunch of scarves I could wear on my head just like Rhoda Morgenstern (and yes, I had big plans to have a giant K for Kim on my kitchen wall just like she had an R for Rhoda on hers). But, that was the seventies and I was a kid. I don’t know how I feel about wearing a scarf but I definitely do NOT want a giant K hanging on my kitchen wall.
So I’m taking the hair thing one day at a time. I’m wondering if I should have more of the “length” taken off the bottom of my hair so it doesn’t look so straggly, I wonder if I should keep wearing my baseball hats, I wonder if I’ll get a wig. Mostly I wonder what my scan will tell. It’s a waiting game. One big waiting game. I will let you know how the scan goes.