Melinda Marchiano

My "what I used to look like" look!

This is me dancing between chemo and radiation. I'm tired, nauseous, and light-headed....but dancing!

Antonio, my stuffed gorilla, came with me every day to radiation dressed differently. Here he is sporting his Cottage Hospital shirt.

Me and the crew from the clinic (from left to right) Nancy (a.k.a. Zippy), Nurse Pam, Me, Dr. Dan, and Robin

Great Aunt Phyllis and I, fellow cancer survivors with hair sproutin'!

A girl from dance sorta "dared" me to come in the next day with a mohawk.......I did.

2008 Arroyo Grande Relay for Life

Just a few of the luminaria bags that lit the Relay track in memory or in honor of someone who battled cancer.

I spoke at the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation Luncheon in October 2008.

I was Marie in the Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo's Nutcracker in December 2008.

These Disney gloves got a lot of use, and they also created many smiles and laughs.

My fourth and final round, I played "Can't Help Fallin' in Love With You". There was a piano on the adult floor, and I played for some of the pediatric nurses.

Nurse Cyndi kisses my bald head before my very last hospital chemo.

Me and Ricco (my IV pump) get decorated for my last hospital chemo party!

So many "Melinda supporters" came to the party!

I had to go back for one last outpatient day of chemo, and to celebrate, I went with a Hawiian theme.

This is me and my doctor, Dr. Dan, the greatest guy eva!

One extremely boring day, I discovered stuffed animal wigs+mom's camera=fun!

My redhead look

My "the sun will come out tomorrow" look

I received "Beads of Courage" for every procedure, poke, day of chemo, ect. This is me collecting them during my second round of chemotherapy.

Here I am discovering my true inner baldness!

Larry, our dog, was my "therapy dog" at home.

Larry had it pretty good when comforting me!

Mom told me to not play with my food, but it gets pretty boring in the hospital...you know?

Nedding to stay busy, but not feeling well enough to do anything major, I baked and cooked quite often.

This was my first blood transfusion, which took most of the day. I began to play with my tube in various ways!

I became the master of balancing things on my head. This is only one example, a water bottle with a straw carefully placed on top. The bald head gave me a little (ok, a lot) of an advantage!