Chemo Boy, Ready to go at Round 2

Its been a 20 days since i last was here, I have had a few bouts of weakness, sickness and just plain tired, There have been some personal things going on that have delayed me a bit but i am hoping to be on track better from now on.

I finished round one of chemo, i will start round 2 this Thursday and it will continue for 28 days, after that an imaging study and then they will decide if i will continue with 4 more rounds of chemo or if they will operate and try and dig this thing out of me, well that's all from the serious side, lets talk about the funny side of cancer for a while.

Side effects, i have two real neat and new ones showing up,

1. Dry skin like you cannot believe, the main, hard hitting cancer drug i am taking is called 5-fluorouracil also known as 5-FU, from my side (and other patients side) you can guess what the "FU" stands for, in the side effects listing for 5-fu it says

"Hand -foot syndrome (Palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia or PPE) -skin rash, swelling, redness, pain and/or peeling of the skin on the palms of hands and soles of feet.  Usually mild, starting 5-6 weeks after start of treatment.  May require reductions in the dose of the medication"

My feet are fine, but my hands..oh my hands are a different story , its been 5 weeks, the joints of my fingers have split open on about half of my fingers, they seep blood and hurt like hell, if you are from the Midwest or dairy country this is called "milkers hands" its from the cold and dry skin in the winter where the hands on the milkers would start to break open, i apply a lot of cream to my hand, but its not helping and it stings, i am thinking of getting a cow so at least i would look the part.

Just a side note, if your ever in need, or just want to know more about Chemo drugs and all i find this site to be a great help, http://www.chemocare.com/

2. Hair loss, well more like hair? what flipping hair? it started about 7 - 10 days ago, it started coming out slow, and then in small batches, and then clumps, i woke up this morning (02/28/2011) and looked at what had become of my head and decided to go get my head shaved, i could have waited a couple of days and saved some money, but i was looking damn silly, and if i am going to look silly i am going to do it on my terms.

So when my hair started coming out i went to one of my favorite sites http://www.sparklingearth.com/ and ordered up some new skull caps ( i use them for my motorcycle) i received them in the post over the weekend washed them and then today had my barber cut my hair off, now instead of patchy hair i am bald, in a skull cap and tell people i am getting ready for "international talk like a pirate day" like i said, i will be silly the way i want to be silly. In the caps i received from sparklingearth, i ordered a new "hackers cap" for work, its black with light ghost skulls screened in, its for them tough repairs when i need to scare a server.

The one thing i did not count on was it feels weird, in the last 12 years i have went from having a 14" pony tail to bald with about every step in between, i just want to know one thing..

How come the only hair we lose (cancer patients) is the stuff on our heads? i mean how come the hair on my arms . legs, chest and other places (yes there to) is still around and the stuff from the neck up just drops off? come on inquiring(and cold) minds want to know!

Sasha the warrior puppy, my 12 year old black lab, took one look at me when i got home today and just shook her head, she came up later and sniffed my head and gave it a lick, so i think i am ok with her, the current SO looked and me and said i looked good, but i think she has to say that, well that and i heard laughing when she was out of site. the bug(my cat) is not saying much now, but i am sure i will hear about it later.

No one at work has seen me yet, but that will all change tomorrow, so it should be an interesting day, and any fun poked my way i know will be in good humor, i will not take it personally, and if they do make it personal? i am a big man, i will not lower myself, i will just delete their music and photo collections on their PC and blame it on the new "Pirate Virus".

aaarrrggghhh!

well that's all for now, if you want to see a picture of me bald, let me know and i will post one, later, have a good night and a better day tomorrow.

Cory, the bald head chemo boy