Yahoo!!!

Genesis 21:6
“God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”

Three years ago I walked into Tammy’s hospital room on a Tuesday morning. Our son and I had shaved our heads before Tammy went into the hospital in anticipation of her losing her hair, and that morning I had attended a bi-weekly meeting for the first time since the “hair-removal” procedure.

She asked me that morning what the people in our group had said about me shaving my head. I told her the first reaction was that they thought it was pretty cool that I would do that for her. She ran her fingers through her own hair and said, “Wouldn’t it be something if I never lost my hair?” When she pulled her hand away, it had clumps of hair, and she started to cry. It was the first time I had seen her cry during the whole ordeal.

She calmed down after just a couple of minutes, and did it again. More hair, more tears. I took her tray out of the room and went to the nurses’ station, and I asked what to do. They said to shave it off, which we did. And Tammy was fine.

Today, about a half hour after I got here, she was scratching her head. She looked at her hand and shouted, “Yahoo!!!” I asked what happened and she said, “My hair is coming out. I get to shave it!” It was a little different than the last time. She pressed the nurse-call button. When the nurse came in, she said, “My hair is falling out,” to which the nurse said, “I’m sorry. It should be expected.” Tammy said, “I know. I’m ready to have it shaved!”

The doctor was just outside the door, so the nurse said she’d wait until his visit was complete to do it. He came in a few minutes later and told Tammy she looked much better today. Then he said, “I hear we’re going to do some ‘hair alterations’ today.” Then—and he probably shouldn’t have said this—he said, “You have the cutest face, with and without hair.” I agreed.

Tammy really does feel better today. Yesterday we mentioned that she was able to relax and was even joking with the nurse. She felt like she had turned a corner, and I mentioned that I noticed a difference. We didn’t want to say anything in the blog, in case it was temporary. But the difference today is even more noticeable. She laughed all the way through the haircut. She hasn’t been drowsy since I got here.

We know there’s still a long way to go in her recovery, but days like today are a real boost for both of us. We appreciate all the prayers. Please keep them up. We’ll keep updating.

By the way, the Syracuse shirt is in honor of our friend and Tammy's donor, Jim, who lives near Syracuse.