Second round - Veterans Day

     On our second dose, we were joined by Amy's mom.  She squeezed into the twin sized be with her as she took her meds.  The room wasn't the nice and private one we had last week.  This one was in an open room with curtain dividers.  I could tell she wasn't happy with this room by the way she told me she wasn't happy with this room...the joy of chemo is the polite filter is pretty much gone and whatever is on her mind just come right out.  More so than normal.

Surfing the web and taking a little chemo

     With the knowledge that her chemo, Taxol, has a side effect of taking her hair she is dreading when that day will come.  Our nurse inadvertently gave her some false hope by saying the hair usually doesn't fall out until about the 3rd or 4th treatment.  Then her mom spoke with a patients mom in the gift shop that said they didn't experience hair loss until after the 7th treatment.  After pouring over the Survivors Network site I learned that the average for most people is 14 to 17 days.  That means that next weekend we should be looking for a hat, barber shop, wig shop, priest with holy water. 
     So after treatment Amy did what any good patient would do with a compromised immune system, she went shopping.  Stopped by the hospital in Clear Lake to visit her grandmother.  Then sauntered on home late in the afternoon where she headed straight to bed.  Surprisingly, other than being tired, she didn't have any noticeable side effects - for about 3 days.
     On the fourth day, my little pink soldier was not happy.  Odd how it works that way.  Her skin is really hot, she has burning and tingling throughout her body, muscle aches, and an irritated scalp and skin.  She pushes through it and then seems to be fairly normal again.  That is except for the tumor in her chest, poison running through her veins, and the uncontrollable crying that hasn't escaped any of us yet.  Other than that, we're great! 

To my fellow Veterans:

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!  ~  Maya Angelou