Side Effects - Yuck!

Half Way Through Chemotherapy and Radiation!

Well, this past week was the half-way point through the chemotherapy and radiation.  My schedule is 5 days per week (Mon-Fri) for both Chemo and Radiation - Then on Saturday and Sunday - Chemotherapy only.  It seemed I was going to get through this phase with only minimal side effects (no nausea - and only some expected fatigue) then all of the sudden last week, the hair started to fall out in clumps (only the dark hair - gray hair remained!).  Fortunately, we had some hats to cover the hairless parts around the front of the head near the scar from the surgery.  Our son, Russ gave me a cool "Quiksilver" hat, --- Jessica and John gave me a U hat (seems our BYU oriented missionaries are aghast!), --- a NYC hat next to my bed, --- a French looking hat (Terri thinks it looks just fine for Church), --- and a brand new "Life is Good" hat to celebrate our half-way point (and hair loss) ---- but ultimately, my sisters (Joy and Jan - identical twins and both hair dressers) have taken the responsibility to keep the hair trimmed properly to smooth the effects.  Russ thinks I just need to shave it --- but I am a bit timid about that drastic change.  

The other side effect has been some expected fatigue.  About an hour after each double treatment (Monday - Friday) I feel fatigued and need about an hour nap before I can get going again.  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons are somewhat functional --- but Thursday and Friday afternoons are quite fatiguing -- Saturday and Sundays are time to regroup for the whole process to start again the next week.  And further, each week becomes a bit more fatiguing than the previous week.  Frankly, the cure seems more difficult than the actual disease.

Fortunately, I found the black easy chair is still my favorite spot for R&R both before and after the diagnosis.  All in all --- life is wonderful and we are quite optimistic.