“Life has no limitations, except the ones you make.” - Les Brown

Doreen Schmidt
Sep 21, 2024
2 min read

I've been making lemonade out of lemons :). September 21, 2024. It's been a lot since my last treatment. Exactly one day after treatment, Jon and I drove to Chicago for a concert we'd purchased tickets to months before my diagnosis. I was going no matter what. The drive there was great, the drive back, not so much as I was starting to get pretty sick. No nausea yet, just fatigue, some body aches and head pain. It very well may have been aggravated by all the driving but, we made the most of it! Soul Asylum, Stone Temple Pilots and one of my long-time faves, Live. Some 90s bands touring as the Jubilee tour. We had front row seats! It was loud and fun. We stayed one night at a hotel and the next day drove home.

Coincidentally, we also had tickets to see Amos Lee (my fave) and Indigo Girls at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado. Again, booked months ago. We flew out Friday morning and home on Monday. The concert, which was on Sunday, was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. I've seen Amos Lee probably half a dozen times, but never at this venue. The sound was amazing, the view absolutely beautiful. In fact, the whole trip was. We stayed at a cute little Airbnb studio with a super comfortable bed. The comfortable bed part is important because I spent most of the weekend in it.

Chemo hit me hard by Friday evening where I was down for the count. Heavy, heavy fatigue (all I wanted to do was sleep), head pain (headache, ear pain, face pain) and some body aches. Thankfully, the head pain wasn't the migraines I had last time, and the body aches were not as bad as last time, but all I wanted to do was sleep. And that's what I did. Most of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We got out a little to see Morrison and Littleton, but Jon spent most of his time taking care of me, reading, and hiking/running on his own. My focus was just feeling better, so I listened to my body. By concert time on Sunday, I was much better and I'm sure the adrenaline of the show kept me feeling good throughout. I had made it through the rough part.

Most of my hair is gone now but not all of it. I still have a thin layer of short hair. I like these bandana/scarf things. They are comfy and breathable. I'm not sure if this 2nd round will cause the rest to fall out or not. I guess we will see. I'm handling it much better than I thought I would. I can see the other side.