The Adventures of Toby the Ta-Ta Tumor

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to today's editions of the Spinning Wheel of Chemo Side Effects!  Where will the ball land today?  Who knows! Stay tuned for all the excitement! Everyday it is something different: nausea, lack of appetite, hair loss, fatigue, bone and muscle aches, seepy eyes, mouth sores, severe GI tract issues, soft and achy toe and finger nails, dizziness, weakness, weight loss and then weigh gain etc, etc, etc,.... You name, I've had it at some point in the past four weeks, including a trip to the ER a few days ago to address a side effect that quickly could have become a very serious issue. I'll spare you the gory details but it is suffice to say that it was one of the worst experiences of my life. Good times! I am two rounds in and have six more to go.  At least I am know becoming very familiar with what to expect for the first 72 hours afterwards, but the lingering side effects lasted considerably longer for round two than they did for round one - wh...

I am now the proud owner of a barely there, army regulation brush cut. This is ahead of schedule, as my hair wouldn't have started to fall out en masse until after my upcoming chemo round two later this week, but I decided (with the encouragement of Dave and Nichole) to cross the no-hair bridge now instead of waiting.  The rationale is that this way I don't have to deal with hair shedding everywhere and clogging up the shower drain, plus having it done on a day when I know I won't be feeling horrid is a good thing. It also puts me in control of this one small detail among a whole lot of not-so-fun-and-totally-out-of-my-hands details.  Now that the initial shock of seeing myself with next to nothing for hair has subsided, it really isn't too bad. I've had short hair in various different styles and lengths since I was 15, this is just taking it to the next level of shortness. Plus Dave and I now have matching hair cuts - we're twinsies - lol! So now it is time to ...