getting prepared

just like before surgery, there is so much to do before chemo!

they highly recommend getting your teeth cleaned before chemo because once you start chemo you can't go to the dentist - for risk of infection. so. i made an appointment and went in yesterday. it was great...just what i want to be doing is hearing scraping, scratching, pulling of the dentist's office. but...it ended up being an awesome experience.

my dentist came in. asked me about my medical issues. i told him the c-word. he said...oh...uh...my cousin has cancer. not breast cancer. but bladder cancer. (end of conversation.)

but then the dental hygenist came in. she said, hi, i've had chemo, too. she told me had ONE YEAR of radiation and A YEAR AND A HALF of chemo. insane. i asked her for tips for getting through it...even though hers was so much more intense. she had the coolest ideas. she suggested going to get paint and huge pieces of paper. even though she never did before, she painted every single day. painted out her emotions so they wouldn't become toxic inside of her. she also created a cement box where she would keep glass bottles. on days that she got really angry, she would break the bottles inside the box, then paint about it, then laugh about it. she also suggested writing down bad thoughts, sad thoughts and putting them inside a jar and sticking the jar in the freezer - so you knew where they were, but so they were sealed up and away from you.

she had the best energy. she was so sweet. and her ideas were so cool.
i'm really glad i went to the dentist. but how come hygenists are ALWAYS cooler than the dentist themselves?
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and so today to get prepared i am going to have a heart test. that takes an hour. my new oncologist said that she's more neurotic than the old one...so she'd just like to make sure my heart is working perfectly before pumping nasty chemicals into it. and then i get to meet with the oncology social worker - to check in about how i'm handling all of this.

should be good.