Health Update

I hadn't meant to leave this blog alone so long, but my waking/sleeping schedule has changed since starting chemotherapy and I used to write and prep my posts Sunday night, and my Sunday nights have become a lot shorter with me going to bed much earlier than I used to. It's taken me longer than expected to adjust.

I'm now in the tail end of my second round of chemo and things aren't nearly as bad as the first (which was so bad that I could barely eat for several days). I'm on stronger nausea medication now and while some side effects are persisting, or becoming more prominent, I'm mostly dealing with it.

Of course, I can say this now because I'm in the second half of my second round and the start of the round is always the worst. This coming weekend I'll probably be happy just getting chicken soup down.

Admittedly one of the things I was most depressed about was losing my hair. Those of you who've met me know that I had very long hair that fell to my waist. That's all gone now.

I'm not actually bald, but I had my hair cut very short at the start of treatment, which turns out to have been a good decision because now I'm shedding all the time. I'll put down a towel on my pillow and the next day it's like a cat or a dog spent the night rubbing it, except I'm the one leaving all the hairs behind.

I suppose I'll bald before the end, but right now it's just thinning, rather unevenly, so I generally wear a beanie when I go out, though I also have what I've been calling my "temp wig" for occasions when it might be better to have hair.

The reason it's temp is that all the hair I cut is being crafted into a prosthetic (thankfully covered by my insurance, because otherwise it's pricey), so come late February/early March I'll have my hair back as a custom wig in time to wear for my post-surgery chemo and the long months waiting for my hair to grow back.

As for my day to day, local friends and family have been great, bringing food and driving me to my appointments. I'm really grateful for everyone who's been helping out.