Sheryl Update

I’m so behind on updates. Three weeks ago we got to spend the weekend with our friends Kim and Deb. We’ve been friends with them for over 25 years. Kim used to be my boss at Starbucks years ago.

You know we’ve been friends for a long time by our hair. As in Jeff and I both had a lot of it in the below old photos. Kim and Deb look the same. They don’t age.

We went out for dinner the first night.

I get a wig and now demand to sit in a chair and have everyone gather around me for photos.

The next day we went over to Kim’s brother’s house. We had never met Mike or his wife Yolanda. It was so nice to meet them and their daughter Claire. I’ve heard about Claire since she was born so it was so nice to meet them. They were super nice and welcoming.

They live in a beautiful house with a pool and an incredible view.

Not only did they feed us and make margaritas. They made fancy mocktails for me.

We also got to meet Kim and Deb’s cats. Coconut and Quincy drove up with them from southern California where they live.

It was wonderful to spend time with them.

I’m not totally bald, but my hair is thinning a lot. I’m basically rocking the Benjamin Franklin look. Except he had more hair in the back than I do.

My mom and sister Laura went with me to buy some new hair. This was a few weeks ago I’m behind on blog entries.

We had an appointment and the women said we should pick out 5 or 6 for me to try on. My mom did not pick the one her hand is next to in the photo.

They even had men’s wigs.

The reject wigs were hysterical. I almost fell off my chair laughing at this one.

But then we found the perfect one. My mom picked this one and I thought no, but once on my head I loved it. My mom really does know what looks best on me.

It’s a high end wig which means not only was it expensive, it is a lot more comfortable than the ones you wear at Halloween.

My dad liked it

So did my nephew Casey when we took him out for bday drinks. I’m drinking a mocktail in this photo.

The medical assistant I see every week at the hospital to take my vitals asked me yesterday if I dyed my hair a new color. I was able to tell him, no. I got all new hair.

I’m behind on updates. My parents came for a visit almost two weeks ago

They were nice enough to shrink down to our size.

We went out for some great dinners.

I looked all cool and urban.

And we did some really nice walks.

We also met up with Laura, Jesse and Casey at the restaurant where Joey worked over the summer.

An unfortunate thing was that Jenny was home in Chicago and not with us. We were however able to photoshop her in

The funniest thing in this picture is that I’m the one that looks added in.

We also went wig shopping which I’ll do a post on next.

I’m getting this drug every three weeks at UCSF. For the first dose I was in a private room and they did tests every hour for 6 hours. This one was more like my other experiences with chemo.

Except chemo I did in Panama and Mexico. So here it was all in English. When I checked in I could talk normally. I didn’t have to practice Spanish and have my Google translate app all ready. I also didn’t have to pay $5,000 every time and hope insurance reimbursed me (they did.)

The clinical trial is mostly free. There are a few things insurance pays for but it’s all handled by the hospital.

I start with a blood test and then meet with a nurse practitioner in this weird exam chair.

Then I’m all hooked up and sit in a chair in row of other people getting chemo. My skin looks freakishly wrinkly in this photo. I’m not sure why. It isn’t normally like that.

The view out the windows is nice. Not the sweeping ocean view of Panama’s chemo center but nice.

The food in Mexico was much better. There I got a full breakfast, lunch, ham sandwich, fruit and cookies. Get you get one saltine. Only one as the sign says.

The biggest and best change is getting to see family after treatment. Joey turned 19 and we got to celebrate with her which was awesome.

And I get to see my friend Robin. She lives in Mountain View so not super close but has been nice enough to drive up to see me.

We’ve been friends since freshmen year in high school. I think we are about 17 and 18 in these photos. It’s been so great to see her.

The drugs make me feel pretty crappy the first week but then by the second week I’m just tired and by the third week almost back to normal.

One side effect is I shrunk.

Some of the drug must have gotten on Jeff because he shrunk too.

I got into the clinical trial! My first treatment was on June 29. So far the side effects aren’t great. I have nausea and fatigue. But well worth it if this drug works!

My sister Laura lives in Pleasant Hill. Her and her family went in vacation and let us stay at her house. The above photo is in her beautiful backyard.

I’ve eaten these cookie every morning with each round of chemo. I was happy to find them here. They really help a bad stomach.

Below is an AI photo.

The photo above is fake. Total AI. But it’s pretty funny.

My sister Jenny flew up for the 4th of July weekend which was great. BBQ, corn, fireworks and family made it the perfect 4th of July.

We got more photos back from our Cancun trip.

Notice in this last photo that my mom and I have the exact same excited look on our faces. Like mother, like daughter.

My parents were married 60 years ago in April, but we celebrated last week in Cancun.

Our entire family met up at a beautiful resort.

There was lots of pool time.

I’m rocking a compression sock and hernia belt this photo.

There was beach time.

Lots of good food.

Games of charades.

A photo shoot. We don’t have all the photos back yet.

Matching hats.

And of course a puppet show.

There were also card games, zumba, a magic show, personalized mugs and World Cup watching that I didn’t get photos of. It was a really great trip.

There is an exciting clinical trial at the University of California in San Francisco that I may be able to get into.

I took a quick trip to San Fran to get testing done and got to see Laura and her family.

Joey and Casey are home for the summer, so I got to hang out with them.

An extra bonus was seeing Anne and Emanuel who just happened to be in San Fran for the weekend.

I even got to see Anne’s support sloth, Rodrigo.

Laura and I almost pulled off the funniest prank. Casey works at Burlington Coat Factory. We visited him at work and I tried on a “two pack” of dresses. They were attached which made them hard to try on but we each put one on. We planned to walk out attached and ask to buy them. But we were afraid Casey would be mortified to see his mom and aunt stumble to the counter as if we were conjoined twins.

Jeff and I will return to San Fran later this month and if all goes well I’ll start the trial.

Jeff and I have been relaxing in a beautiful airbnb in a suburb of Merida. We are in a big modern apartment with really gorgeous landscaping. We are the only ones in the pool.

After each lap there is even a mini waterfall. The views from our apartment make is feel like were in the Yucatan jungle.

But a very landscaped jungle.

Which at night looks magical.

There is even this funny door.

And it’s also only 20 minutes from the beach.

We knew are trip back would be long, but we didn’t know it would include a stop in Bermuda

We left our Airbnb in Marrakech at 5am. The airport had comfy chairs. They were so comfortable we set alarms on our phones so we didn’t fall asleep and miss our flight.

The first 7 hours of the nine hour flight was great. And then there was a medical emergency at the back of the plane. First they asked for a doctor, then if anyone had a specific medicine. I didn’t catch the name but Jeff looked it up. He thinks it was a anti anxiety med.

Then they announced we were diverting to Bermuda because they person needed to go to the hospital. Then we heard him screaming.

It wasn’t a surprise when we landed and paramedics entered the plane. The amount of police on board was suprising.

Then they announced that flight attendants were injured during the medical emergency and we had to wait for another crew to be flown in.

We were stuck in the Bermuda airport for seven hours. They did give us food at the one restaurant in the area we were sequestered.

I became obsessed with these two men. Why were they matching? Why match but not completely? Different hats and shoes? Were they wearing matching pajamas?

By the time we landed in Atlanta we had missed our connecting flight. We spent the night, flew out the next day then caught the train to Mérida.

We had a great trip but it’s nice to be back in Merida.

We spent our last full day in Morocco at the Jardin Majorelle. This is a garden that was part of the house Yve Saint Laurant lived in.

We had to make reservations and tickets were expensive. Most of the things we saw were free, but tickets were the equivalent of $33 a person.

I thought how great can it be?

We’ve been to botanical gardens before. Why are these so great?

They were spectacular. I can’t even explain why. They were so beautiful and artistic.

Even Jeff got into taking photos.

Not only were the gardens beautiful but there were doors to see. There were a lot of people but enough room to wander and feel like you were not in a crowd.

Lots of cactus.

More doors.

And more selfies. It was the perfect thing to do on our last day.