I had been waiting for the moment when I would be able to return to West Virginia
University to finish my senior year. I was ready to jump back into my life.
When we arrived, we immediately started unpacking and moving into my apartment. I was so excited and happy to be back! Everyone came back to Morgantown on Sunday January 12th. My first couple of days involved going to my friend’s house every day and catching up.
After the first week, I realized that I couldn't keep up anymore. One night out would take it out of me. I wish things could have picked up where they left off. I hoped that I would go back to being the Emily from Junior year. Unfortunately, that was not the case. It was a struggle to go back to classes every day, spend time with friends, keep up with HW, and go out some nights. While I was upset and unsure how to keep up, I remembered what I always tell people. I explain that "college is a balancing act." All I had to do was balance my educational and social obligations. I started to accept the new schedule. It is no way near perfected, but I am working on it.
My schedule wasn't the only thing that made the transition back hard. Friday’s, we have happy hour around 5:30 and then at night we go to Joe Mamas for the live bands. Well, the first Friday that we went out was fun. Until, we got to the bar and the bouncer made me give him 3 different forms of identification. I guess it was dark and the wig does look a little different than my real hair, but it was not fun. I forgot about it after we went into the bar.
We had a few drinks and went to dance and watch the band. We were standing in front of the stage having a great time. The band started to play a popular song and my friend when to grab my shoulder. Well, instead of grabbing my shoulder, she accidentally grabbed my wig. It flew off and I caught it against my back. I turned around and the dance floor and bar were packed. I had a slight panic attack and ran into the bathroom to cry for a minute. My friends are amazing, and they followed me in to cheer me up. It wasn't the end of the world, but it felt like normal would never come back.
The rest of that night and the next day, I was fine. I began cooking different types of chicken. I never really learned how to cook until this year. I don't mind it,...yet! The second week of classes arrived. In one of my classes, I needed to be put in a group for projects. It was the first class I did not wear my wig to. I was sitting in the back with makeup and a hat on, when the professor asked who wanted to be in the first group. I raised my hand and the guy 2 seats down from me raised his hand. The professor responds by saying "okay, the two guys in the back will be in group one." …The minute those words came out of his mouth I looked down and didn't look up. Thank god I was in the back, so no one realized who the professor was talking about. I will say, this professor is pretty old and probably can't see well. Again, my friends were there to save the day!
Recruitment week was pretty boring for me because I wasn't recruiting this year. I had to
wait until bid day to have some fun. Senior year bid day was incredible. I loved our theme and all of our new girls!
Even though chemo is over, I do have to go back to the hospital every 4-6 weeks to get my port flushed. This makes sure that it does not close up or clog.
Driving 3 hours home every 4-6 weeks was not something I would have done if I didn't have to. Like I said, adjusting back to life alone...it's hard and scary. People don't realize that you don't just jump back into being fine or into your old life. I learned this by going through it and that's how most people are going to learn it too. You have to start somewhere to slowly move on.