Happy Chemo-ween!

For years, when we had lots of young children, Halloween was fun, but a big hassle. All my kids wanted to wear a great costume, and they kept changing their minds about what they wanted to be. I usually ended up standing in the kitchen at eight o'clock p.m. on October 31st with a box of old clothes and a can of spray paint.

But we generally came up with a few good ones.

Crazy Cat Lady

Me with Adam. He's Dr. Who

The three youngest Spencers several Halloweens ago

Danny and my husband Wes.
Both are wearing my wigs.

This year, things were different. Now that our youngest is twelve, no one really wanted to dress up, or go trick-or-treating. Some went to parties, or hung out with friends. But the elements of surprise and silliness were gone.

There was still one person in the family who was willing to play the fool. Me.

Four years ago, my Chemo Club friends and I started dressing up in Halloween costumes on the treatment day closest to Halloween. It has made for a fun day: a neat way to see a different side of the people you see every week with a line in a vein.

Tina the Friendly Scarecrow!

(I made him wear this hat I brought. He was a good sport about it.)

I brought this cake I made . . .

And dressed as a member of the  Swedish pop band Abba.

I brought a CD with a song my daughter helped me record. The nurses hit the play button and I came in dancing and singing. Before long, people were singing along and laughing.

Here's the song we sang:

Cancer Queen

(to the tune of Dancing Queen)

Wednesday morning: it’s time to go

Gotta head out for her chemo,

Where they have the right medicine, sitting in the chair.

She’s gonna lose her hair.

She’s been told that she won’t have long,,

She’s not young, but she’s staying strong,

With a bit of Herceptin, everything is fine

This disease doesn’t sleep;

And so she’s gonna keep . . .

Being  the Cancer Queen, old and tired but still on the scene

Cancer Queen, hear the dripping of her IV (oh, yeah)

She can’t walk, she can’t drive, how long can she stay alive? (Who knows?)

See that girl, watch that scene, digging the Cancer Queen.

No one here is ready to die,

We’re not  young but we’re gonna try

Trusting Dr. Ben-Jacob, he always has a plan,

Doing the best we can,

And so we’ll make a stand  .  .  .

And be the Cancer Team, not so young but still on the scene

Cancer Team, come on over and you will see, (oh, yeah)

We will dance, we will thrive., somehow we’re going to survive (oh, yeah)

Check us out, watch the scene, digging our Cancer Queens (and Kings)

It was a lot of fun.

I didn't think that the Trick-or-Treaters who came to my door the next night would appreciate the whole Cancer Queen thing, so I dressed as a Star Trek character for that.

(I'm not a regular cast member with a recurring role, but a nameless extra you can expect will be killed by an alien species before the end of the episode.)

It was a happy, crazy, fun day.

Is it too early for me to start thinking about next year's costume?