4th Treatment, etc.

HAIR LOSS

We had our fourth chemo yesterday, but before we go there, let's talk about hair. Lois was more concerned about the possibility of hair loss than the loss of practically "anything else," also - you will remember - in an earlier blog, I commented that the doc said "she may not lose any hair," and that was reinforced by the oncologist nurse, sorta. Now, don't get me wrong, no one said she WOULDN'T lose any hair, but they did say that is was POSSIBLE that she might not. We were encouraged.
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The hair started falling this week, a little bit, then a little bit more, then a lot. I think it was on the day after she noticed hair on her pillow and in the shower, that I asked if I could take her picture; thinking maybe I could get a "before," then an "after" shot. I got permission on the "before" ------->

Then, to make a long story short, in the last two or three days, she has lost all her inhibitions regarding hair loss, and has fully embraced her apparently pending baldness.

"She might not lose her hair" - two things -

1. She went to the Cancer Center to check out the hats, scarves, and wigs. She found out she could take "all you want," and that they are free; so she brought home a few bags of hats, scarves and wigs. Then she went to Michael's (arts and craft store), bought a bouquet of artificial flowers, brought them home, cut off the stems, stuck some pins on the flowers and started decorating her hats. Some of them remind me of Annie Hall (do you remember her?). One of the wigs has long, straight hair; it's auburn with definite highlights of RED, and it's "just for fun." Hmmmmmmm: this one reminds me of Haight Ashbury, remember? But then - it does look like "fun."

2. I found a book at Amazon and bought it for her, Uplift - Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors. Last night she read the section on Hair Loss and this morning here's what she told me: Someone in the book had mentioned they were sick and tired of hair falling out, shampooing, drying, cleaning hair out of the sink, the shower, etc., so - she gathered her family around and celebrated the loss of her hair by having it shaved off. Lois wants to bring her grandchildren in and let them watch while our son-in-law shaves her head (he cuts the grandsons' hair). She wants them to see their Grandma lose her hair. This way they will know what happened and won't be afraid. I'm impressed. (I'll try to sneak some pics on here for you.)

NO SLEEP

She has continued having a lot of trouble sleeping. Turns out it's probably due to the steriods she gets in the anti-nausea mixture they giver her prior to the actual chemo. They told her today, for the first time, she should NOT be consuming anything with caffeine: yesterday she downed a diet coke, or two; a Large Mocha Blast at Baskins Robbins (chocolate has caffeine too); then she promptly didn't go to sleep until about 5:30 am this morning. The amazing thing is that she woke up one hour later and has been on the go ever since. It's 10 pm right now and I hear a cutting knife snipping something into pieces downstairs in the kitchen as I write.

I may just have to konk her on the head with a dull object.


OLD FRIENDS

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I think I mentioned in an earlier post that Lois went to Walla Walla to visit one of her girlfriends from high school. On Monday, Judy and Bill, and Judy's sister, Sandy, stopped on their way back to the Seattle area at the Cancer Center and visited Lois while she was getting her drugs. Here's a pic of Lois and Judy.



Ken and Carolyn J., friends from Sequim that now live in Couer d'Alene, came through on their way to the Oregon Coast, then came back through on their way back home. Lois used to work for Ken in Sequim and they've been dear friends since the early 90's. We took them on a big tour of the Tri-Cities and shot a few pics down in Columbia Park. Looks a little like Waikiki....right?



CHEMO No. 4

(1/3rd done)

Things to watch for from chemo: 1. nausea, 2. fatigue, and 3. hair loss. She's experiencing some fatigue from lack of sleep, but technically this isn't from the chemo. She's had no nausea. So we figure two out of three ain't bad.

Jim