Sunday 4.6.2008

Day 19, Treatment #4

Slept fair, you know, with the hots and all. I think that the hot flashes are something that need to be adapted to, unfortunately. I would prefer to eliminate them, that they would just go away. Oh well, I'll do what I need to do.

After my shower and breakfast, I was checking email, and noticed that I had brushed little hairs off my eyelashes and a couple off my cheeks. Ok, this is weird. I got up and looked in the mirror--and after some exploration, my eyebrows are having a major shed. Yep--the wide parts at the inside of the brows are mostly gone; patchy might be a word. And the rest of the brows are pretty thin. From the Look Good Feel Better program that I went to in February, I have a couple of brow pencils, and they had shown us how to use them. I experimented with the colors and technique--I'm ok with how it looked. The good news--that was the last chemical attack my body will experience, so after this round of hair loss, it should start regrowing at some point.

Daniel and I went out for groceries. I am still not able to walk my normal pace, and my head is still not right. We got what we needed and came home. Lunch, and before long, I took a nap. Daniel went out into the outer garage and did whatever he was doing (he mentioned sweeping, I presume to be ready to set up his golf practice net thing). He came in short of breath, and coughing, trying to get that stuff out of his lungs. I think he's better, in the sense that he's not running a temp since he's been taking the antibiotic, and the stuff is breaking up and he's able to spit it out. He's not so sure he's that much better.

Another thing I noticed after my shower, is my armpit on the operative side. You know how I have that numbness down the underside of my arm? It has become more sensitive over the last many days, maybe even a couple of weeks, and the last couple of days I have noticed that the underside of my arm hurts, along that nerve. Like a burn. I thought that maybe the nerve was regenerating or something. Today when I raised my arm to put on the deoderant, I noticed that there is a "cord" -- a raised rope-like strand running from the axillary incision to the arm side of my pit. And man, is it tender. Like ouch, that hurts. I showed Daniel, and we think that it would be a good idea to run it by the surgeon. I will call Dr. Sanchez' office tomorrow for an appointment.

The sun was getting low in the sky, and I had wanted to get outside for a walk, so I went. A bit breezy, and cool, but lovely just the same. While I was out, I tried to increase my pace a little. That just doesn't work. My head got all weird, my perception was off, and it took a few minutes to catch up. Oh well. As I said earlier, this is the last chemical attack I will have. These side effects can clear out any time now, the sooner the better.

Dan's got the tv on, I'm writing here. He went off to bed, and I'm on my way, too. Tomorrow is a workday.

Thank you all for reading, for the phone calls, emails, and COMMENTS. I appreciate your support, and that you take the time to keep up, or check in, on me. Hugs.