We had Cole's hair cut today. Christy Montoya came to the hospital and brought along her clippers and scissors. She gave Cole a very handsome buzz-cut of which he is not a big fan, yet.
See, his hair has always been a comfort to him. When he would get sleepy, he would always reach up and play with his hair. When he was worried, he would play with his hair. He started playing with hair as a baby, when he would reach up and play with Dalynn's hair while watching Praise Baby before going to sleep at night.
Unfortunately, cancer has taken that from him, at least for now. We know that it'll grow back, but it started falling out in clumps and we decided it would be better all around to get as much out at one time as we could. It was a very hard decision, but one that had an inevitable end. His hair was coming out one way or another.
Today was not, however, all sadness. My roommate from college, Jerry, who also had ALL when we were going to school together, came to visit us from Greenville, NC. When it came time to tell our close friends that Cole had ALL, Jerry was the one who took it the hardest. The fact that he had been through this, and knew what he was crying about was not lost on me.
However, he has proven to have extremely valuable insight into what Cole is going through. He's helping us understand some of the discomfort that Cole is experiencing, like the hunger from the steroids and the emotional ups and downs. He's preparing us for the bouts of nausea and other things that can happen, and he's giving us the beginnings of real hope, as he helps us see that it's best to take it day to day, and not all at once.
It was especially good for me, as well, because I was able to get out of the hospital for a while with Jerry. I had not realized til last night how much of a toll this was taking on me, and the Lord knew just what I needed when Jerry said he was coming up for the day.
Dalynn and I are starting to see that we have to keep ourselves in top shape, and we're starting to learn how best to do this. For me, staying at the hospital 24/7 is not necessarily the best thing to be doing, but it's something that she doesn't find so onerous. I also realized today that she has the right idea by taking strength from close friends, and that I'm going to have to open up to my close friends more.
All in all, it was a good day to learn things, though it was also a sad day with Cole's haircut. We have Cole's procedures tomorrow, and we'll be finding out if he is a rapid responder, so get your pray on!
