2 weeks after

It's been two weeks now since my last treatment, and my eyebrows and eyelashes are gone, and my hair is falling out more than ever.

Yesterday, I realized that this situation is unique in my chemo experience, so I did not know at all what to expect.

But having the hair loss (other than the body hair, which fell out right away) START after the end of treatment was certainly NOT expected.

Back at the beginning, the first round of chemo was 4 treatments (Taxotir and Cytoxin) in three months, and I lost all of my hair starting about 10 days after the first treatment.

Then, there was a break for surgery, during which I regained a LOT of head hair.

We resumed chemo with different drugs after surgery (Adriamycin, the "red devil").

I lost my re-grown hair starting, again,  about 10 days after the first treatment.  I lost my eyebrows and eyelashes and everything else after the second treatment ( I think..it's been a long time).... so I was already as bald as I was going to get when we started the last cocktail of different drugs (first Taxol, then Abraxane, ending with Abraxane--that's the one that's $4000 per treatment) in September.

Then there was another break after the last treatment in November.

I took almost 2 months off between the end of 7 months' of constant treatment before we started this most recent round of 9 treatments with the same drug that was used at the end of everything last year.

During that break, my hair grew in thick and my eyebrows and eyelashes came back.

The point is, I have no point of reference of going into receiving Abraxane without already being bald from months and months of treatment.

The body hair loss happened pretty quickly, but the head hair was not falling out much at all, and the eyebrows and eyelashes were staying put....until after the last treatment on March 25th.

Since then, my hair loss has been profuse.  Especially the past week.  They eyelashes have all fallen out since last weekend.

I am REALLY HOPING it stops soon!!  I can see my scalp through the spikes when I put my hair gel in, and I can feel my scalp much more easily when I shampoo.

Sigh.

SO unexpected.  You'd think that it would have started at 10 days like the other times, instead of waiting until the drug was out of my system.

I've also been really fatigued (compared to how I normally feel....I can still get stuff done and take my walks, but I don't feel as good as I've felt over the past year of treatments).

The good news is, my dry mouth is gone, and the mouth sores have stopped.  Things are even starting to taste normal again!!  YAY!!

Got my first "maintenance" injection on Thursday.  The shot itself was pretty painful, but no ill effects!!
NOW, I don't have to set foot in the clinic for ANYTHING until May 5!!!  How nice that will be!!

In other news, the free cleaning service finally started coming.  They did a very nice job, and it's been so lovely to NOT have to clean my house this weekend!

They will come back three more times, once a month.  I am so pleased that I qualify, even though chemo is over.

Chemo side effects certainly are NOT over yet, so it's a blessing.

The home improvements have begun, so our feeling of being "rich" (while the tax refund and Dave's bonus sat in the bank) will be over soon.

I am still SO very grateful that the fund raisers that were done on my behalf (and by me personally) are paying the medical bills this year.

These home improvements are WAY past due, and had to be put off because of the medical bills last  year.

It will be so nice to get them all done.

As I think I posted before, Dave and I did the rehab on the shed ourselves two weeks ago.

The two front room windows were replaced with craftsman style this past week.  Dave found them at a place called Architectural Antiques (not the chain, a privately owned local place FILLED with junk).
They were really inexpensive, and our painter is also a construction contractor, so he was able to swap them out for us as part of all of the stuff he is doing for us.

Then, yesterday, they came and did the carport extension.  Once the fence is replaced/moved up, we will be able to park both cars under cover.

Now it's supposed to rain for a couple of days, but by the end of this coming week, the fence and the exterior painting of the house and shed should all be finished!

Bye bye, big pile of money!