I Can't Be Sick When I'm So Pretty!

The reason I wear make up to my chemo sessions is because when I look good, I feel better! Lots of staff in the clinic compliment me by saying, "You look good! You look healthy!" since they see so many sickly-looking patients on a daily basis in there. I smile or giggle, say, "Thank you!" and motor on my way.

But I don't really do it for the compliments. I mean, going to the trouble of putting mascara on all THREE of my eyelashes really is not worth even just one such compliment!

I put it on mostly so that when I shuffle to the bathroom every 30 minutes while the drugs and saline run through my system, and I dread looking in the mirror to face the effects of the past four bags of pharmaceuticals that have recently been put in me, not to mention all the other trials and tribulations of the past year and a half, I am surprised to see that I actually don't look so pale, gray, and sickly as I had expected!
Through some good guidance and trial and error, I've learned how to draw on the half of my eyebrows that are missing without it looking like clown makeup! Thanks to Carrie's and Carol's help, I've finally found a gentle mascara that curls those three happy eye lashes I mentioned above and is easy to apply (although it's almost like cement by the end of the day, as I try not to yank out those three eyelashes whilst removing my makeup! I think nail polish remover would work best on this stuff but I sort of enjoy being able to see lately). And really, most of all, the American Cancer Society's Look Good, Feel Better campaign of free workshops on showing us cancer patients how to apply such makeup to help accent our qualities whilst masking our downsides!

Although I've been sleeping deeply off and on for the past 18 hours or so, no amount of sleep can make a person actually look forward to packing for a trip! So, instead of putting it off until 7:00 tonight and then staying up late as I sweat in the heat of the bedroom from both of us running around looking for stuff, I've set an earlier time to start (4:00) packing and am making lists and taking care of pre-departure stuff around the house in the meanwhile. The lists help the most. Of course, having to pack for only three days doesn't suck much either! And now I know what my parents were talking aboutall those years they travelled for their jobs; they'd usually go to the same couple of locations each time (Seattle, WA: Dayton, OH; Dearborn, MI; Huntsville, AL; you know, all the exotic places like those!), and they'd mention that packing got really easy when you travelled to the same place on a regular basis. You knew what the weather would be like; you knew what sort of clothes would be needed (a dress or suitcoat instead of a Hawaiian shirt and booty-cutters!); and, over time, you'd develop a toiletries bag already packed with smaller duplicates of the stuff you used at home, so most of the time, all you'd have to do is toss such toiletry bag straight into the suitcase and you're good to go. It became mechanical. A torturous but simple science, whose only changing variable was the number of days you'd be gone from home.

Dad, I hope we've made you proud (ha ha!) as this has happened to us! We know now which suitcase is needed for the amount of days we'll be gone, what clothes to pack (and mostly, what clothes to NOT pack -- we used to always overdo it!), and other neccessary items that we can't leave home without (the iPods, DS's, laptops, bottle of Benefiber, Neupogen shots, etc.). And then when we get home, we never pack the suitcases too deeply in the back of the closet. Heck, we've even given up storing them in the basement! Now they sort of just sit in the corner of a spare room, waiting with us another 1-3 months for us to take off again. We've gotten Travel to Houston pretty much down to a science. (Maybe that'll be the title of my book!) Especially since we're not actually living there anymore! Piece of cake, in comparison! I bet it only takes me about 2 hours to pack tonight. And even that long only because I'm moving slowly since chemo yesterday and I get dizzy when I turn too quickly! LOL Silly-sounding reasoning, I know, but very true!

Anyhoo...back to the makeup. Another advantage of this Cancer-and-Makeup situation is that I can also use the lack of makeup to my benefit, as needed. I decide what sort of look I'm going for...tired and sickly, in the hopes of getting special treatment from the kindly staff members of the airport (especially in security! Like a cancer patient would actually pack an explosive in his or her shoe! No way!); or perky and proud with makeup, impressing people with my positive and upbeat attitude, possibly still getting some special treatment, but overall just blending in with everyone else. It really depends on what kind of week I've been having. Want to blend in or stand out. Just a few strokes of blush, eyeliner and the new mascara and POW, the treatment has changed! Of course, after a full day of testing and two days later a Good or Bad News visit with Dr. Curley, my travel back home is often clouded in my mind as I try to digest what comes next for me when I get back. That trip isn't quite as much fun except that it's exciting to return to our Furry Kids.

This leads me to a question for all three of my readers! Do you "dress up" or otherwise try to look nice and prim and proper for an airline trip or do you just wear whatever's comfortable and practical for such travel? Personally, I go for the jeans or sweat pants (jeans for the pockets), bright or unique t-shirt so that Pete can find me if we get separated in the vast magazine store in the terminal, and slip-on comfy shoes like Crocs or Birks so I don't waste even more time through security by taking off and putting back on my shoes (I'm already bad enough with all the electronics I have to pull out and put on display in those grey bins on the conveyer belt! People behind me usually get huffy if I'm not moving at warp speed in this process, but then the people in front of me get huffy if I try to reach forward and get a head start filling up a gray bin or two before it's my turn at the converor belt!).

However, I know two people (who happen to be related to one another) who have (at least once that I know of) actually went shopping and purchased a brand new outfit for the sole purpose of wearing it on the airplane flights to and from their vacation destination! Such outfit could not be worn before or during the trip itself unless a jaunt on an airplane was involved; but it could be worn around town only AFTER such trip has been concluded and they're back at home, where hopefully noone they run into will remember what they were wearing on that flight! These two didn't always do this but they do otherwise pick out a special "pants suit" or some other semi-formal but slightly comfortable outfit for the flights and set it aside only for the airplanes involved in their travels to come.

So which one are you? Comfy and casual or prim and propper? Or maybe you fall somewhere in between in your attempts to avoid conformity? Whichever it is, please let me know! I'd like to see how much thought other people put into their airplane outfits.
Oh and also, if you are a female (*ahem* but nothing against the guys who might choose to do this), do you wear makeup on the plane and if you say yes, is it really only because you just wear make up every day anyway or is it considered a special enough social situation that it warrants such prettiness? Just curious. Enquiring minds want to know!

And don't even get me started on what you carry on to the plane! That's got to be saved for a whole other blog post some other day! LOL