The wig incident

Today I'm thankful for...

Working with great people everyday

Having the time to spend with Lourdes

A beautiful bald wife

My health and strength

We got same more great news yesterday. As I was on my way to see Lourdes at the hospital about 4:30, I got a call from a friend at the OB's office, she had received the pathology report from UCSF. (all the reports are sent or can be requested by the OB office on Lulu's cancer). The wonderful news, was that the biopsy Lulu had last thursday (the one with all those doctors and cost $10,000) was negative to malignancy! All the prayers you have bestowed upon our family have worked. Of course this is another huge feather to stick into the recovery hat. I could feel some of the weight lift from my shoulders after hanging up after this call.

I was thankful for any positive news on Lulu's cancer. I didn't have a chance to call to her to see if she had received the news yet, because I had a conference call with a practice coach right then. After I finished the 15 minute coaching call, I went into the NICU to hold Lourdes. As always, I got a update on how well she's been doing this last 24 hours since I last seen her. (did I mention how great the staff here was?). Lourdes was put onto "low flow oxygen" two days ago and she was practically breathing room air now. Her desaturations and Bradycardics (not breathing well and heart not pumping well) events were decreasing daily, and she had grown to 17" and 5.1 pounds. She was looking so big. As she looked at me today, I could see the blueness of her eyes, and the majestic expressions on her tiny face. Everyday she grows into a more lovable creature, and I can't spend enough time with her? The nurse told me that with increased feedings and little need for the oxygen, Lourdes could possibly go home in as little as two weeks?

Yesterday this news would have excited me, today it scared me a little! I thought; are we going to be ready for her to come home? Will she be released from the hospital when we need to be in SF for chemotherapy treatment? Would she be sent home with oxygen tanks and monitoring equipment? The apprehensive feeling didn't last long, because I scooped her up into my arms and cuddled her right then. The feeling of her warmth and hearing her breaths were enough to push away all feelings of what might be tomorrow. I spent the next hour holding, feeding, and talking to Lourdes. I hated (as always) to put her back into the bassinet, but Lulu needed me for strength and support "at the hair appointment".

I rushed to be with Lulu at the salon where she was to get the dreaded last bit of hair shaved off. Wow, now I could see what I felt three days ago when I had my head buzzed. She was handling it great, but I knew that it was just a show for the stylists and other clients that were there. She was dreading this day since she first found out that she had to have chemotherapy. As her hair accumulated on the floor below the barber chair, I snapped some pictures of the to be talked about event for life. I was so glad that I did mine first, and truly know that she felt better about her hair loss because I shaved mine off. After the last chunk of hair was clipped and fell to the floor, we all admired Lulu's perfectly gorgeous bald head. (some comments were thrown around about her head shape and how it was so much better then mine). I played along, but come on have you seen the pictures of my "captain Pichard movie star bald head"?

Hard to imagine that Lulu's head could be more perfect then mine? I really wanted to have our picture taken together, but Lulu wasn't going for it. What would be better then two love birds caught in a moment with no hair? Things got even worse for me about then. Lulu and the stylist pulled a wig out of the bag she was caring, and began fitting it (and cutting, styling, trimming the wig) to her head. I guess that when I shaved my hair off, I never really thought that Lulu was going to have a perfectly fitting wig to wear, and that I would be left with a bald head. This wasn't fair. After they spent maybe 10 minutes adjusting, styling this masterpiece, I found myself looking at a beautiful woman with hair just possibly better then her own? I couldn't believe they can make wigs that almost exactly match the original hair! I actually thought this wig looked better then Lulu's natural hair. (and I told her so). I really could see she thought the same, and her spirits climbed when everyone was complementing her on the naturalness of her new look. Well, so much for the difficult hair loss event. She exclaimed that she was very relieved to be done with that, as we exited the hair salon. I's so glad we've gotten past this step. Let's see what tomorrow's going to bring? Could it top today?