The Return of Hair

The morning after the 5th treatment I packed up and headed for Singapore for a work obligation both there and in Shanghai, so Shermance was on her own for 10 days.  Fortunately, her mom came to the rescue.  In fact, both of her parents stayed at our house several nights so the boys thought it was like a slumber party.  They love being spoiled by their grandparents and it certainly works both ways.

During the time while I was gone, not only did I miss a chemo appointment, I also missed Shemamce's hair groing back in earnest.  When I left it was just a pickly stubble, but when I returned it was was soft and seems quite silvery...exactly what Shermance hoped for.  It is not unusual for hair to grow back a different color or texture after chemo, but ut us still too early to tell if the new hair is what we can expect after all Chemo is done.  Today Shermance actually bought some Rogain to see if it can come in a bit thicker, but as far as I can tell there are no blotchy spots.  It's coming in as a full head of hair. 

Just 2 days after returning from my trip, Shermance was the loudes cheering fan at my Tae kwon Do belt test.  I tell this, because she had the funniest reaction to me putting on my sparing gear.  While I was gone she and the boys had participated in a TKD tournament and she swapped out my headgear for hers.  She never swapped them back.  So at my TKD test, when I put on her head gear that was 3 sizes too small she couldn't help put laugh...and laugh...and cry...and make all kinds of funny noises.  Anyway, I made it through my tests on forms, sparing techniques, board breaking, and yes, even sparing to earn my green belt - the 5th rank - no where close to her 2nd degree black or Logan's 3rd degree black. 

Over the past two weeks we received some more news...and we're just calling it news until we hear more from some specialists.  Shermance had another CAT scan and it showed she still has a 3mm spot on her lungand she also has a bilateral node on her thyroid.  At this point we don't know if either is cancerous, but our oncologist's nurse, Jolie, assures us that the spot on her lung is actually a good thing.  Since it was there from the start and has not reacted to the chemo or grown it is likely not cancer.  If it reacted to the chemo we'd know it was a cancer.  If it didn't react to the chemo then it might be a particualrly aggressive cancer, so either case woould have been bad.  The fact that it stayed the same probably means it is scar tissue or something benign that is not of concern right now.  We'll have a better look at it in a few weeks after we are done with the last 5 rounds of chemo.

As for the lump on her Thyroid, Shermance was assuered that it is nothing to be alarmed about yet.  It is just news.  The ENT specialist will tell us for sure.  If it is cancer, in that location it is very treatable.  in fact, her mother had cancer in her thyroid and had it removed without major repercussions, so if that's the worst case, we are somewhat relieved.  Nonetheless, we would be much happier without anymore such news of foreign "objects or interest" in Shermance's body!

At Taxol #6 and #7 things continue to go well.  The repeated chemos are weighing on Shermance.  The hot flashes continue.  She has periods of intense anxiety, and she has required a lot of extra sleep.  when she gets her sleep the other symptoms seem to reduce a bit.  This week Jolie told Shermance to double her medicine that helps with the hot flashes, since the does was already very low.  It should help reduce the intensity and frequency of the hot flashes and have the added benefit of reducing the anxiety - BONUS!  Let's hope for BOTH!