THE WEDDING

Oh. My. Goodness. The day of the wedding could not have been more perfect. I had my first round of chemo on Tuesday, and we flew out Wednesday. After a delayed flight, and a super late arrival to California, we finally got to sleep and then Thursday relax a little before the bridal party arrived. Once everyone arrived the girls took off and we got our nails done, and the guys hung out. Friday was spent with the boys going to rent Harley Davidson motor cycles for 280 miles! Which basically was all day. Tony loved every second of it. The girls, we were off visiting three wineries, which was so much fun. I really enjoyed learning about the vineyards, and the business in general of a vineyard. I appreciated when the staff of the winery would come over and fill us in on family history, or interesting facts about the vineyards. For example, some wineries don't replace their vines and will have 150 year old plants, producing grapes. Others will change them out after 30 years, get a burn permit from the city, burn that pile, and then they grow other vegetables or fruit there for two years, and then remove that, and replant new vines. They won't expect to see grapes they can use for three more years. So in total, five years before they can expect return from that acreage. Saturday was spent with a brunch rehearsal, and then we went to a national park after with our friends Neil & Lindsay, to go hike/explore. Sunday came wedding day. We woke up and started getting hair/makeup done around 8:30am. Tony and one of Lauren's brothers drove us a half hour up to the winery around 12:30pm. From when we first arrived basically we started photos. The photographers were on point and weren't letting us get behind schedule at all. I felt great, didn't have any side effects of chemo and was determined to not think about my cancer that much and just enjoy the day for all it had to offer, and celebrate Lauren & Jason. Lauren had ordered me a second bridesmaid dress three weeks before the wedding that covered my port and gave me so much confidence. There was a moment when Lauren was walking down the aisle, I was taking it all in, trying my best to not let a tear fall out of my eye and ruin my makeup, and I heard my dad in my head say "I wish mom could be here". (my mom did not make the trek out to California for the wedding unfortunately). And in that moment, it really felt like my dad was there with me, and was just so happy seeing Lauren walk down the aisle, and how beautiful she was, and how incredibly perfect of a day we were having. Our friend Lindsay did a beautiful ceremony, and after they continued some more photos, and the rest of us got to explore/take photos with the incredible scenery at the venue. One of my favorite parts was the AMAZING floral arrangements. SO gorgeous. Dinner got going, toasts were made, and then we were dancing. Maybe the day felt like it went super fast for Lauren, but I know that I was able to take in each hour, and really appreciate every detail she had planned and every moment for what it had to offer. The night ended around 11pm and we headed back to the hotel to pack, shower, and sleep about 80 minutes before we had to wake up and drive to the airport for our 5am flight to Dallas to get fitted for my new wig. 

All was going well and we had just arrived at the car rental return place, until we locked the rental car, returned the keys to the car rental lock box at 4am, with no one working, and Tony looks at me and says, "did you grab my backpack?" Nope. There it was. Locked in the car. In the backseat. With my laptop in it. After a near almost melt down (on my end), we got on the shuttle to the airport and checked our bags and got to our gate and walked onto the plane. Thankfully my sister woke up, saw my text, and filed a claim with the company that we left the bag in our car. Tony and I eventually made it to Dallas, sleeping on both flights to get there, and took an Uber to what's called the Divi House, which is where the wig giveaway was happening. Now I didn't know who was there, or what this company was really, and here we show up, with all of our wedding bags from the airport, and I'm the last one to get fitted for a wig out of the four girls from the giveaway. The people there hosting wanted to hear more of my story, and one of the girls, Dani, wanted to put it on her instagram story. I thought oh that's neat, sounds good. So I retold a little bit of my story, and then got fitted for my wig. 

It was AMAZING. Spot on what my hair looks like, just fuller. 

The Wig Fairy had seen photos of my hair before I came, and she custom colored a wig to look almost identical to my current hair. EVERYONE was shocked how good the wig looked, and how natural it was on me. They then "surprised" me with purple, (Dani had already told me they had purple extensions) but we filmed a surprise reveal that the Wig Fairy had brought purple extensions for my wig to make it feel more "me". It was such a fun experience, and the wig fairy actually took the wig back with her to California, to add more purple because she realized she didn't bring enough compared to how much I had in my hair. On our way home to Minnesota, my phone started to get very busy. I had messages from TONS of women I am friends with, Hannah's too, saying "YOU WERE WITH DANI AUSTIN?! I LOVE HER!!" So here's the thing. Dani Austin is very famous within the social media world due to her blog. And Instagram. And her hair company called Divi. Here we were spending the day with her, and she shares my story and wig reveal on her instagram, and then a bunch of people were texting me, "I SAW YOU WITH DANI AUSTIN THAT'S CRAZY!" So that was a really fun surprise to learn we had spent the afternoon with an internet star and had no idea. She was super normal and really enjoyable to be around. 

While writing this, I have currently been losing my hair since Monday evening, when I started to notice it thin out. I didn't think it would start thinning until another round of chemo, because that's what the doctors said. Welp. They were wrong. My sister's hair stylist/professional told me that she is sad the doctors told me it wouldn't be till the third treatment, because whenever you get chemo, it automatically goes to your hair follicles, and kills those cells so it's just a matter of time before you lose it. Chemo kills cells that multiply, and that's what hair follicles do. I have been using a serum on my eyebrows and eye lashes though so I haven't lost those yet thankfully. A friend who had chemo a couple years ago told me about this serum and it has helped me so far. So thankful for eye lashes and eye brows. The wig can't come fast enough from California. Not super comfortable with head wraps yet, and I haven't shaved my head yet, because I didn't think it would start falling out this early yet. So I wasn't mentally ready for this, and I don't have the strength to just shave it all off to be "in control". So right now I am just carefully brushing it, and trying to not cry every time I brush my hair and clumps just come out, (and trying to not clog our bathroom or shower drains). 

I am thankful I haven't had too many side effects from chemo yet. I have had a couple weird things like lack of appetite, a little heartburn, the chemo coming out of my skin in a form of acne, (my skin was amazing pre chemo from my new diet) and I have gotten to experience my first UTI of my life. Chemo we know takes down your immune system and man- this UTI got me. 

Tony and I have been so amazingly overwhelmed with support from everyone, I'm sorry this update took so long to get to. I have been busy attempting to organize more appointments, treatments, work, and the addition of a sauna into our home! YAY! (It's really good for cancer). Any who, more to come this week, once I get off this work rotation! 

Ya'll were SO incredible ordering shirts, stickers, etc from my work, and just wanted to let you know that we are going to be placing a sweatshirt order come this fall! More info to come on that later. :) 

We have a benefit on Sunday, October 2nd, at Mavericks Wood Grill in Champlin from 12-5pm. It's a hole in a wall kind of gem, and it's where Tony and I went on our first date together 13 years ago. We would love for you all to join us there even if it's for 15 minutes. We love you all so much. Your support is incredible and one of the reason why my doctors are puzzled by my positivity and strength.

Below are some more photos from the last couple weeks from the wedding, and the wig fitting.

During chemo I have to ice my hands and feet to prevent neuropathy, and tried to attempt cold cap therapy to prevent hair loss but it didn't work. 

The incredible wedding venue!

My amazing wig that I can't wait to get in the mail.