Two down, one to go!

I'm on a list where every once in while a company will call to ask me to test a new product or participate in a marketing survey. Two weeks ago I got called to test a new razor. I declined but the timing was sort of ironic. I haven't had to shave in about a week and a half! Not because I've been lazy and slothy (this time!) but because I don't have any stubble on my face to shave! The stubble just wipes right off! If only Gillette could make a shaving cream as strong and as long lasting as chemo!

Unfortunately, not having to shave is the only good side-effect I've had. This second cycle of chemo was predictably harder (my doctor said that this type of chemo is one of the most difficult, not that any of it is easy) ---- the nausea was stronger (I felt like I was like being forced on the bulimic version of the Jenny Craig diet for a couple of days there), the lethargy was heavier and my appetite was practically non-existent (water even tasted bad!)! But the Baylor nurses are great and dispensed good drugs that made the chemo as tolerable as possible (and, if it wasn't quite tolerable then I slept through it!). I'm beginning to return to something close to normal (?) again. And, even better, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! My last cycle of chemo starts the Monday after Thanksgiving --- two down, one to go!!! I am so excited that my chemo treatments are almost over!

I can't express enough how much your thoughts and prayers have meant to me and how much you've helped me through my treatment. I am so grateful for your friendship!

Day twenty-seven

I bought a new bottle of shampoo at Target Sunday and started losing my hair on Monday.

No matter how much I prepared myself for it, losing my hair has still been somewhat traumatic. It's just another reminder that my body is not well.

I've been getting ready for this day since my pre-teens. My father started losing his hair in his late twenties and never let me forget that the same fate would follow me. Luckily, I've kept most of my hair except for the ones on the crown of my head. But no matter how much my father warned me nothing prepared me for Monday. I lost so much hair Monday morning it took an hour for the water to drain from the tub. And I couldn't get it off me --- I had my own, bleached hair all over my face and in my mouth, it was like I was my own dog. And it just got worse yesterday and today. This morning I woke up on another pillow and drain full of blond hair. Without even thinking I shampooed my hair.

Several friends are on their way over to shave my head. I want a mowak even if it lasts only for a few minutes. Of course, in exchange for shaving my head I'm letting them use my last remaining hairs to create some long unfulfilled artistic creation even if it's only to shave their name onto my scalp.