Halfway marks, Thanksgiving, unexpected doctor visits, and surprising hair loss

Today is my 10^th Chemo session but number 6 of 12 for my Taxol regiment.  So only 6 more to go, Yay!  In my mind, the current regiment of Taxol isn’t as effective as my previous regiment but the Oncologists still seem pretty positive, but I shall know more next week when I meet my doctor.  It is a scary feeling to not know how the Horcrux is truly responding and it can lead to some dark thoughts.  I have to remember to stay positive, trust in God’s will, trust in the Virgin Mary’s intercession, and continue to have faith.  Keep up the prayers, they truly can be felt and help me when I start going down those dark roads!   

Last week was Thanksgiving and I was told due to the hospital’s schedule around the holidays, I was not going to be able to get treatment during Thanksgiving.  That was beneficial for me because unfortunately my husband’s grandfather passed away the Saturday before Thanksgiving so we had to make an unexpected trip up to Connecticut for the week.  It was sad to say goodbye to someone that my husband cherished but beautiful in that we were able to spend the week with immediate and extended family, and even some extended, extended family that we don’t get to see very often.  I was even able to meet some family members that I had only ever heard about.  The small blessings in the sadness.  Thanksgiving day was filled with an overabundance of food, wine, laughter, and warmth despite the extremely cold temps outside.  We were even able to squeeze in a day in New York City before the trip was all said and done.

While my heart and mind enjoyed the travel, my body had other thoughts.  Monday evening, after we arrived home, I started having the chills and was running a temperature of 101.6.  While that may not be an issue for any normal healthy individual, for a cancer patient, anything over 100.5 can be alarming.  The doctors were concerned that my body was fighting some form of infection and that my white blood count may be too low to fight the infection so I had to take the next day off from work and get evaluated by my doctor.  So several hours, excessive number of vials of blood, two separate needle pricks, and one extremely uncomfortable nose swab for the flu later, I was found to be clear of infection and just told to drink lots of fluids and rest.  I had been so lucky to avoid getting sick thus far but it was bound to happen with all the crazy weather changes.  Now I am going to really be cognizant of getting enough rest and sanitizing everything!

I was talking with a friend today who went through Chemo treatment several years ago and she made me have another random realization, I DON’T HAVE ANY NOSE HAIR!  Who would have thought that among all the areas I could lose my hair, my nose would be one of them?!  Head, legs, underarms, eyelashes, eyebrows, and now my nose!  I accepted early on that I would lose the massive amount of hair that I had carried on my head for my entire life but I am really struggling with the loss of my eyebrows and eyelashes. Thank God for the creation of makeup.  Now I just feel like I am reliving my brief chola days with my painted on eyebrows.   If you aren’t sure what a chola is check out this fantastic clip with my adult idol, Sandra Bullock.  https://youtu.be/OTAYM8y2OXo  Also, fake eyelashes are a pain in the rear, but now I understand why women need an extra 30 min just to put them on!

Until next time. . .