Summer was a blur...

For those of you who are following my blog, this entry is the continuation from my last entry regarding my treatment. Still trying to remember.

So I can't remember what happened in after the Cub's home opener. I remember having to carry around my silly oxygen tank. I remember my sister Meg posing with the big R2D2 oxy tank in some crazy photos...but I can't remember for sure. April seems like such a blur. I did celebrate my 23rd birthday though. April 24th, 2007. Chris came up to my apartment and took me out to a very nice Italian restaurant. I will never forget the gift he got me. It's funny because the gift would probably be offensive to most people, but it was too perfect. So, if you know me at all, you know I'm super obsessed with oral hygiene. Chris got me a spinbrush toothbrush, the best toothpaste, lots of floss, whitening strips and some awesome mouthwash. Sounds crazy, but Chris knows me best, and knew that gift was perfect, especially on his low-college-student-budget, mixed with my no-income-cancer-broke-college-student-budget. I wouldn't of asked for more. But that's really all I remember about April. School was about to end for the summer, so I guess that brings us to May. I was very happy because it was a trying semester. I was still trying to finish up the previous semester's work as well as the current semester's. It was double. I remember working all day in the shop building models for my projects, living at my computer for cad models, and sketching forever. I remember for one of my final projects we got to present in the Hancock Building in a room that happened to face the Lake, so it was beautiful. I wore my favorite wig to that presentation with a bright purple shirt. Here's a pic of my best friend Ralph & I.



After we were done, my classmates all met up at our FAVORITE spot near Columbia, Blackie's. It was awesome, but I was so mad I couldn't stay the whole night, I had chemo early the next morning, so I had to take a late train back to Joliet that night. So of course, the night flew by. I remember the next day was warm out. Went to JOHA and read the usual magazines, drank the usual grape juice. My mom probably brought me lunch from Babe's, and that's about it.

Once summer came I was finally getting over my lung issues. I had to continue seeing Dr. Garapati, my breathing specialist. I think I saw him once a week. Since school was done for the summer I basically moved back into my parent's house in Joliet. Every time I saw Dr. G I would have to go in this mini chamber and do all sorts of tests. I never liked it much. You sat in this tiny little space and put your mouth on this breathing device. You would have to inhale and it would cut the oxygen flow off randomly, so you couldn't breath. It was not fun at all. But eventually, my lungs were almost back to full capacity. I didn't have to carry around my oxygen tank formerly known as R2D2, and didn't have to take a million meds a day for my poor little lungs. This I guess brings us to almost June of 2007. That summer was very boring. I wasn't able to work yet with my crazy chemo schedule, so I had a lot of free time on my hands. Free time like that sounds fun, but it gets old fast. I had nothing to do. I actually started a daily bike ride. It started out by myself, just a few blocks. Eventually I got Bess to join me, almost daily, and we did some nice rides...pretty far.

Chemo pressed on, hair still wasn't growing back. And that was June. July is when Meg's birthday rolls around. I somehow managed to afford a couple tickets to a concert for Meg's birthday. We were going to see Incubus. Me, her, Chris, & Maggie. So much fun. It was warm that night. I wore the usual blondish wig, with this super cute scarf Meg let me borrow.

The concert was awesome. It was at Northerly Island in Chicago by Solider Field. When it ended, we sped out of there to get to the car. We cut across this huge field to beat the crowd. We snuck under this rope to cut in front of everyone. There was a warm breeze. I crawled under, looked up and Chris's jaw dropped. Then Meg's and Maggie's did. I looked back to what they were focusing on and saw my blonde wig/scarg duo dangling from the rope in slo-mo in the wind. I swear the crowd coming out of the concert (consisting of what seemed to be 1 million people) just stand there and freeze. The usual Kate would of been freaked out and embarrassed, but I took it as a sign to stop wearing the wig. I laughed it off. I did not put it back on. I proudly walked on with my bald peach fuzz boy hair. From then on I didn't really wear the wigs anymore. My hair wasn't growing back, but the wigs were getting boring, and it was really hot.

For some reason I can't remember much more. Just awaiting the last chemo appointment....

More soon.

xoxo