The Girls are Ready!

It's just falling, falling, falling out. Just tons of hair on my neck, shoulders, arms. I'm wearing a chemo bandana out of desperation. We should have cut it off earlier today but I wanted to keep it as long as possible. The shower took it's toll. There was still enough to blow dry and probably to get away with another day but the globs of hair that snarled together in the towel were really hard to get untangled. They fell off my head like kitty furballs. I cleaned the floor on my hands and knees and picked up layers of hair. Oh well, the Girls are ready for tomorrow.

Well, it was bound to happen......

I just didn't know how or when. They said two weeks. It's been "thirteen days." My poor head has been itching for about a week. I've been using the tube of conditioner that's in the Loreal hair color boxes. It's always seemed like the magic bullet when my hair is dry. It does feel real silky and shines like gold, as it cascades down my arms and into the atmosphere. If I consciously pull a handful of hair, I get a handful of hair. Just between yesterday afternoon and this morning, I've probably pulled out 300 hairs. I have a 9:30 appointment at the office today so I'll have to shower in a few minutes. Who knows what will be left on my head after that. The wigs are ready. I'm not real happy with the scarves; can't seem to find the plain old paisley red or paisley blue, like we wore when we were kids. I have the chemo scarves but even chemo gals aren't wearing those. They're very dowdy. I'll go to the wig shop this afternoon when I'm finished with the client and see what's new. Good news though....after getting that shot Monday to boost the white blood cells, it was supposed to make me miserable, bones ache, sick, ....but, so far, Advil has knocked that out and I've been very busy.

First Follow-Up after First Chemo

On 7/6, they took 5 viles of blood. Then they put them into a spinner machine that spits out a report. The report shows my red and white blood cell count compared to a normal "range." The red were slightly down, to be expected, and quite fine.

The white count was .9 in a range of 4.00 - 5.50. So, I had to have a shot of Neulasta. We had to wait several hours for the insurance to okay it, which they did. Fred looked it up on-line and it cost $7,000. It was a teeny-weeny shot in the tummy. No big deal. The side affects could be sore bones because the shot causes the bones to force-produce white blood cells. The count has to be high enough in order to be able to take Chemo #2.

We were chuckling at the sick-ass people jammed in the waiting room, then we realized we're part of them. I have to start looking at sick-ass people like friends. This is a whole new reality.

The rest of the follow-up appointment was with a hemotologist who is also an oncology nurse. She goes over symptoms and writes prescriptions. Anxiety is still my biggest problem so she told me the Rolling Stones like Valium but I could have it or Ativen. I chose Ativen, however, next visit I may follow the Rolling Stones. Other than that, she said the fact that I brought a "spreadsheet" listing all my daily symptons, tells her that there's no reason to call an ambulance. She also said she kind of felt for my poor wonderful husband.

Diarrhea - IT Happens!

Chemo diarrhea (CD) isn't like regular-people diarrhea (RPD). I have a hard time explaining RPD because it's been a long time, however, CD sort of launches from the tippy top of the twenty-some-odd feet of small intestine and joy-rides down, twisting and turning like it's bobsledding.

(I can't figure out how to delete this Rainbird sprinkler)

Saturday evening, Fred and I decided to try a new Tai Food restaurant recommended by neighbors. We were practically the only ones in there which should have been a clue. The waitress asked how spicy (on a scale of 1 - 10) we wanted our Mongolian Beef and Pad Tai. We said, "Oh, we'll take a 5 - that sounds good." Boy, am I a fool. All the literature I've read about CD has warned against spicy food. The Mongolian Beef (MB) was put on the table and I got a huge whiff of the ginger, too much. The Pad Tai went down fine, sweet and spicy. Then I ate some of the MB and it went down fine, I thought. Moments later I felt rumbling at the top. Then, the MB lauched. I couldn't believe what was happening. It was jamming at record speed, like a bobsledder in the Winter Olympics. Would I have time to even warn Fred that I was about to explode? He was eating his food peacefully, totally unaware I was about to detonate. I shoved the chair back, told him I was about to explode and ran away from the table. Never having been there before, I didn't know where the bathroom was or if it was decent or what. Like a heat-seeking missile, I ran right into the door, it was private, nice, clean, all mine. Lesson learned.

Thursday Night - Symptoms started coming on....

Last night (Thursday) the flu symptoms came on strong. They were coming on all day but I was working and was able to work through them. Once I got home and started dinner, oh brother, did I feel rotten. The booklet provided by Nevada Cancer Institute said the flu symptoms might stick around for 1 - 3 days. Thursday was day one. Muscle aches, headache, CHILLS - yes, for the first time since menopause, I had chills. I even pulled the comforter out of the closet and bundled up at 9:00! Woke up this morning feeling like I was 85, pulled myself out of bed and got going. My wonderful Fred said, "Try some Aleve". Okay, I did and about 50% of the symptoms got better throughout the day. We even went to see the new Michael Cane movie (Harry Brown). I've never tried Aleve before. It's my new best friend, along with Zanax and Ambien.

Pigeon Poop

Gotta get some new flip-flops today. This morning, walking outside on the back patio, I noticed big wads of pigeon poop, just kind of hither and yawn. Maybe looks a little like the Louisianna shoreline these days. I am used to just walking across it. Then, I walk inside the house with the same flip-flops. With the white blood cell count going down, this may have to change too. Don't know how I'll fix that, may have to hose it off every night, or just stay off the back patio. It will take another week and a half for the white blood cells to be kind of low. This is starting to look like I've moved to Neptune and must adhere to their living standards. I can see why some say the hair loss will not be your biggest problem.

STARTING TO GET WEIRD FEELINGS...

Yesterday, I was outside too much, going from the car to vacant houses with no electricity, showing them to a client. It was 108 degrees here yesterday. By the time I got home, it felt like my chest was wrapped tight and there was a noose around my neck. It took a long time to wind down and feel even somewhat okay. I think it was the extreme heat. That activity will come to an end. Today, I have a doctor appt with my primary care physician - just a follow up, although I'll let her know about yesterday. Oh, just the heat exposure, mind you, just the heat caused my skin on my upper stomach to sunburn. It wasn't even exposed to the sun but it clearly is a sunburn.