9 inch nails

Ok, not really nails... just hair. 9 inches of hair. gone. from my head.

Here is how it all started... I was starting to grow my hair out. Just for fun. Then my good friend Marcia was diagnosed with breast cancer. In honor of her, I decided to grow my hair to donate. So, I have been growing my hair with that reason in mind for the past year.

Locks of Love will take hair with a minimum of 10 inches and makes wigs for all kinds of hair loss diseases. Which is great! I found out that Pantene also takes hair with a minimum of 8 inches, for hair loss due to cancer. Also great! And since cancer was the reason I was growing mine, I am donating to Pantene.

So, this week I had a 9 inches of hair cut off. I will post pictures soon, but I didn't have my camera with me, so the photos are not on my computer to download. (Or is it upload?) Anyway, pictures to come...

Halloween

So it occurred to me today that I hadn't uploaded any pics from Halloween yet. I thought maybe I should do that... sometime before Christmas. :-) As I was looking at what was on my camera, I noticed that I failed to take many photos. I think (I hope) my mom's camera may have more. For now though, this is what I have of the girls in their costumes. (Thanks a million, Jana, for the Ariel costume! I will send it back ASAP!)

Updates...

My dad...

He is home from the hospital (as of noon today). They plan to do gallbladder surgery in January. For now, he is home on lots of medication. I bet he is happy to sleep in his own bed tonight!

Dave...

He has been home from school this week. Every night he plans to go in the next day. As of now, he plans to go tomorrow. We'll see... He is doing better though. Not much pain... or at least I don't see the pain on his face and he is not doubled over. He goes to the doctor next week.

MGH

So, I was at work today when I got a call from my sister. I thought it was a bit strange that she was calling me on the school phone ("Mrs. Toevs, your sister is on line 2")... then I remembered my cell phone was off. I get on the phone thinking something must be wrong with one of her kids... but no, it was our Dad. He had been admitted to MGH (Marion General Hospital, for those readers outside of Marion). He was having gall bladder pain and they were going to do surgery this afternoon. I quickly left school with a plan that Dave would bring the girls home. It sure is convenient being in the same building for the time being! When I got to the hospital, I learned that surgery was not an option because he has several blood clots in his left leg. This is the same leg that we have been telling him for weeks to get checked out. Since Dad doesn't like going to the doctor, he hadn't done anything about it. Well, God must have decided to make him go to the ER by causing gall bladder pain. Anyway, he is now on complete bed rest and will be in the hospital for several days.
As I was sitting there with my dad, I found out that Dave was in the ER. Terri, a teacher he shares a classroom with, walked in with my girls and said that she and Tami (the school nurse) drove Dave to the ER because he was doubled over in pain. So, I left my dad on the 5th floor and went to see my husband on the 1st floor. He was in SEVERE pain! He was doubled over, practically falling out of the wheelchair he was in. They got him to a bed and gave him some pain medication. That didn't work. So, they brought in some morphine. That didn't work. They brought in some more. At that point they took him to have and abdominal CT scan. By the time he got back, the morphine had kicked in. I am not sure all the pain was gone, but at least at that point he didn't care about the pain.
The scan showed inflammation in his colon. He was released and sent home with a few prescriptions and directions to see the family doctor as soon as possible. For now, that's really all we know. Hopefully, we can figure out soon why the colon is inflamed.
I am thankful that both Dave and my dad were able to get the medical care they needed. I am glad that Dave is not in pain now (he is so drugged up!) and thankful that they caught my dad's blood clots before they went to his heart! God is good.