Relaxing in the mountains...Chemo starts Thursday.

Dane surprised me with a wonderful three days in the mountains!  We stayed in a friend's place in Seven Devils with a gorgeous view of Grandfather Mountain!  We left the kids at home with Nana (hooray!) and drove up on Monday morning.  We went to Grandfather Mountain (I've never been) and hiked some of the trails, checked out the little zoo, and yes, walked over the swinging bridge.  Dane took a TON of pictures, but they are on his phone, and we haven't had a chance to upload them to the computer!

We also did some shopping, played some trivia, and ate at some of our favorite restaurants.  The weather was perfect...mid-eighties every day with sunshine and a wonderful breeze...  After hearing about the 100 degree weather here in Charlotte, I can tell you that we were not super excited about coming home!

Last night I didn't sleep so well.  Lots of thoughts swirling around in my head.  This morning we slept in until at least 10:30.  Dane asked me how I was doing, and I broke down a little bit.  I really just needed a moment to cry.  It was a little bit of an uglier cry than I care to admit.  Needed a couple of tissues.  I felt (and still feel a little bit) like Grover did in the book, The Monster at the End of This Book.  Every day, every hour, I get closer and closer to chemo.  I am a little afraid of going through this again, but I know that once I get started it won't be all that bad.

Chemo starts around 9:15 tomorrow.  I don't really know how long the whole thing will last, but I'm planning on 2-4 hours...  Dane will be there with me.  The kids will be at home with my mom.  Later tomorrow the kids have their mock swim meet and I am hoping to go.  I am hoping that this go-round will mimic my last go-round in terms of when I was feeling weak and exhausted (which usually started 24-36 hours after chemo and lasted for 2 days or so...).

Ok...  It's almost 11 pm.  I need to gather up my bag of puzzles, books, snacks, etc...

Love you all!

Jen