Mrs. Q-tip and the Valentine's day cookies

Yesterday, I finished up chemo #8 of the final 12 treatments.  I'm still having the wacko vision (sounds like wonka vision from willy wonka and the chocolate factory but less fun and chocolate doesn't help it.)  Drinking a lot of fluids and taking ativan seems to lessen it somewhat.  Neither one of those things cures it, but the combination of the two, slows the snowy vision down.

I saw a nutritionist yesterday right before I went into chemo.  She told me that I need to eat small meals 6 times a day rather than 3 large meals.  Each meal should have a carb combined with a fat or a carb combined with a protein.  This way of eating will hopefully keep me from getting ravenously hungry...Today, it seemed to work, except one of my snacks was three small chocolate cookies and dinner was way bigger than it should have been..She was right, I was less hungry :)  I am afraid to weigh myself....

I seem to be growing more and more hair.  The hair on my head is 90% white with some brown thrown in, but it is no longer patchy.  My head looks and feels like a fuzzy Q-tip.  It is so downy soft..I give myself scalp massages all the time because the hair is so fuzzy.  I really wish I could wear my hair the way it is in public and ditch the stupid wigs.  Unfortunately, I don't think the general public and my students are ready to see Mrs.Q-tip.

I am excited that I only have 4 more treatments...Less than a month from today, I will be done with chemotherapy, hopefully forever.  After that, I will be visiting with my plastic surgeon to schedule my final surgery and I will probably have the ablation done as well.  After that, I will hopefully be free of cancer for the rest of my life.

While I was getting chemo yesterday, this really young 20 year old was walking around the chemo room with cookies.  I thought she was just some kid doing volunteer work.  It turns out she is an ovarian cancer survivor.  She was in her late teens when she was diagnosed.  She said that it was just like a bad dream and it's over now.  And here she was, giving out heart shaped cookies.  I was so profoundly affected by her act of kindness..Giving back and helping after what she had been through.  I feel like when I am done with all of this, I will find a way to help and give back to people suffering with this horrible disease.  Maybe I too will think of this ordeal as a bad dream..

Sweet dreams,
Chemosabe