Trial update and an unexpected makeover

 This trial started off strong!  Strange… but strong. Started with a 30 min injection and a bunch of measurements. It is strange to have a nurse approach you with a meter stick and a Geiger counter… but it happened! The first 2 weeks were heavy with appointments and tests, but other than having a couple days of severe fatigue, things were good. I had just cleared 2.5 weeks of appointments when I started getting a bit of a runny nose. Then suddenly last Sunday (Nov 16) I started feeling rough, flu like and… my hair started falling out!!  Hair loss was not an expected side effect. 

I went in the next day and had blood work, saw the team and no one could explain the hair loss.  However, I had apparently started brewing pneumonia!  So I’ve spent the last week recovering while continuing to lose large amounts of hair. It would be everywhere. On my pillow, on the couch, in my clothes and every time I ran my hand through my hair I’d come out with a handful. By the end of the week every garbage pail in our house looked like someone had disposed of a toupee. The other side of hair loss that people don’t talk about is that losing your hair hurts!  It feels like someone is pulling it every time it moves (and sometimes



when it’s still). Very frustrating. 

Sunday (yesterday) afternoon, I made the call to shave it. I couldn’t handle the discomfort and there wasn’t a whole lot left to salvage. Caitlyn really wanted to do it because she’d never shaved someone’s head before. She did a great job… but she found it more emotional than she expected. Both kids are having a hard time with the hair loss. Sean was able to articulate that it is just a constant reminder of what’s really going on. 

It’s wild that it’s been 8 years with this diagnosis and 15 years since cancer first entered my life… and this is my first experience losing my hair. In that context… I’ve been fortunate. 

I should be getting a wig this week and we are entering touque season!  Hopefully this is not all for not and these cancer cells are dying too. 

In the meantime… we wait. 

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