I still have my hair, but...

...the curls are missing. It still has a few waves, but it won't curl. I first noticed my straighter hair two months ago, but put it down to the fact that this winter is so dry and my hair does require some humidity to curl. I wasn't feeling well enough to fuss with it, and spending so much time in bed means that it doesn't always look its best anyway.

But now I'm sure. My hairdresser is leaving it a little longer because she says it won't flatten out in bed so much, so it should be curlier than usual. But after my last haircut, there is definitly no curl left. It started to rain during our walk today, and it should have had my hair turning frizzy.

A friend mentioned someone she knew whose brown straight hair fell out during chemo and it grew back in black and curly. Later it grew back as it had been before. So I guess I just have to wait until all of the chemo is out of my system and hope my hair grows back with its usual curls.

Third CT scan

I had my third CT scan on Wednesday. This was my first time back at Roswell in two weeks. I had drunk the Barium Sulphate smoothie and was all prepped for the scan, IV line inserted as well, when the nurse asked if I had any questions. I mentioned the reaction I had last time, immediately after my January scan, when my fingers turned red and began to itch. It had been a short half-hour reaction and I had forgotten to mention it to my doctor.

The nurse said I'd had an allergic reaction to the CT scan iodine dye, and that a second reaction could be much worse. I would not be able to go ahead with the CT scan. I would have to be rescheduled for a day when I could be given meds for the reaction, one 12 hours ahead of the scan and one 2 hours ahead of the scan. The IV line was taken out.

In the end the radiologist agreed that I could have the CT scan without the iodine dye, as the GI tract would still show because I had drunk the Barium Sulphate. Now I have to wait and see if my oncologist wants me to have another scan with the iodine dye and the preparatory medicines so the lymph nodes will show. I learned a lesson from this: tell the doctor about all reactions. Oh well.

More walking

Over the long Easter weekend we went to the Dufferin Islands nature preserve every day. It was sunny but quite cold for the time of year. It's close to the river and that means that the ice still in the river keeps areas nearby colder.
There is very little sign of spring yet but the forsythia are just showing a few green buds.

I finally found my pedometer at home and measured the walks as being around 1km to do a circuit, about 15-20 minutes for me. We saw lots of families with bread to feed the ducks and geese. I found the walking to be easy and it gives me hope that I will recover soon from the fatigue.

On Sunday we took the campervan and stopped at Chippawa Park to have a picnic lunch, but it was too cold to sit outdoors so we ate in the van, with the heater on! Still, there were plenty of family groups all bundled up having their picnic lunch outdoors at the picnic tables. A couple parked beside us started out at a picnic table but soon retreated to their car to eat. I guess everybody is anxious for spring to arrive.

No hospital visit this week

This was my first week in a long time when I had no visits to Roswell Park. I had gotten used to the weekly visits, whether for chemo or for lab checks, and it seemed strange to not go. I did have a hair appointment and a massage, so that made up for it a bit.

I figure that this month I am hitting the lowest of the low, being at the end of my chemo with all of its cumulative effects. Barry likens it to the stock market, which hit such lows recently but is now slowly starting to recover. The stock market crash started about the same time as my cancer story, too, last September. Just like the Dow Jones Index, I have up days and down days, hopefully more up days than down days in the weeks to come.

Today we walked to the mailbox to get the mail, and I managed to walk past 3 more driveways down the road before we turned around to come back. This might not seem like much of an achievement, but for me it was a milestone, as every other trip to the mailbox had me pushing myself just to get there and back.

If all goes well, I will be able to do more and more each day from now on as I struggle to recover from all of the chemo. I'm planning to find my pedometer and using it to track my progress in walking: 4 driveways next time.

Cycle six, day 9: Neulasta

On Tuesday I had my monthly shot of Neulasta to help my white blood cells grow. It was the most efficient visit we've ever had at Roswell. We waited only a minute or two for the appointment, and Barry barely had his laptop open before the nurse called me. A few minutes for the shot and we were out of there. I have some hip and thigh pain today but it is not too bad. (later note: the hip and thigh pain lasted for 9 days, and was especially bad in the evenings.)

For the first time I will have a week off, as there are no visits to Roswell scheduled for next week. I won't know what to do with myself on Tuesday!