Today's awkward moment

Note to the general public - if you see a woman with a shaved head, unless you know her, don't ask her what's up with her hair.

I hope a person at my job learned that lesson today.

I was sitting at Andrea's desk, learning how to use our new website. Andrea works for another paper and is well versed in the new site, which we are going to June 9. More about that in a minute. There is a small wall that blocks off part of her desk, so you can't really see us until you are on us.

Enter "K" who comes up to the desk, sees me and stops dead in her tracks. She looks at me and says (which I can't exactly remember, damn chemo) something to the effect of "what's up with your hair?" "or why is your hair like that?"

This is exactly the kind of crap I hoped to avoid. Now I can feel myself turning red and embarrassed because I've been called out for looking different. Mind you, I'm not wearing a hat or anything because the hat was hot.

I just looked at her and nonchalantly said "I've got cancer."

Foot, meet mouth. K stutters a bit, realizing the error of her ways. She then asks me how long I've had it. After that awkward encounter, so goes on talking to Andrea about what she originally intended to.

In her defense, K didn't know I was sick. It's not like I was running around the entire office telling people. Only those I closely work with know. So I'm sure the site of me in a hat or with a shaved head was quite jarring. However, you must know I'm not some closet punk rocker, so for pete's sake, err on the side of caution and just don't say anything. or lie and say it looks good. Whatever. Moving on...

I tried my best to look extra girly today - I wore make up, a skirt and heels. The heels lasted about an hour. I got many compliments on my black fedora from Target. Too bad I don't really like hats. They are hot. They are annoying. So, it wasn't on my head much while in the office.

Here's an update on how I'm feeling - pretty good. I'm hoping the constipation issue has been worked out. I skipped the miralax last night and tonight. I'm not regular, but at least I'm kind of going without the help of the drugs. I've got the tightness in my chest, hoping the heartburn goes away soon. It's tolerable. I was able to swallow the sample pill the doc gave me to treat it, so that's good. I looked up the drug online and it has a warning that it's caused stomach cancer in lab rats. Great...

I'm still really tired. I had to leave work early and i just zoned out for a couple hours after I got home. The hubby and I ate and ran an errand and now I'm back online catching up.

About work - I'm so thankful I've got wonderful and supportive co-workers. My cancer really couldnt' have come at a worse time professionally. We are getting ready to launch onto a new web platform. As the web editor, a lot of this is falling on my shoulders to get the editoral content up to snuff before we launch June 9. As a result, I got pulled off my normal duties and am focusing solely on the new site. This gives me so much more flexibility in my schedule. If I'm tired at 2, I can go home, nap, and get back on at 4. My old duties wouldn't let me do that.

So my co-workers are picking up my old duties for now, which is such a relief. This new web site is a great distraction, but it's also a source of stress. I've had dreams three nights in row about it - seeing the new platform, categorizing stories, checking boxes. Ugh. This will be my life for the next few weeks.