After my penultimate round of chemotherapy, I am pleased to report that I still have eyebrows. They're faint and vestigial, a mere shadow of the bushy Cindy Crawford brows I brought into the world, but if the need should arise to raise an eyebrow today, I am equipped to do so.
I still have a little hair on my arms too but not on my legs. I wonder why? Eyebrows and arms: aside from that, I'm as bald as a newborn baby's butt. My fingernails haven't fallen off but they've developed ridges and they look bruised, as if they've been attacked by a mad hammerer.
My final round of chemotherapy is scheduled for Nov. 24, so I'll feel rotten on Thanksgiving but I'll be overflowing with thankfulness for finally being done with treatment. Today I feel okay. Everything tastes like metal and I have to stop to catch my breath when I walk across the room, but that's pretty normal. Normal for now, anyway.
My doctor tells me that cancer patients generally take six to nine months to get back to normal after chemotherapy, or back to whatever counts as normal by then. So now I'm looking forward to a whole new type of normal, the New New Normal. It'll be a whole new life and I'm ready for it, even if it requires me to raise an eyebrow.
2 comments:
My friend's little boy had cancer when he was four. He lost all his beautiful red curly hair. When it grew back during his recovery he was very upset. Hair for him was just a hassle. :)
I noticed that you still had eyebrows when I saw you last time. Honestly, that would be tough for me. I've been eyebrow shape challenged since birth and trying to draw them on every day would drive me crazy (as I am also blessed with shaky drawing hand syndrome).
I can't wait for the New New Normal for you. You've gone through so much, it will be an exciting journey of self-rediscovery.
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