Lymphomania: Crazy Cancer Christmas
First, I hope everyone out there had a great Christmas! It's the day after Christmas here, and it ended up snowing enough to have over an inch of accumulation for the first time since 1882. I don't really count it as a white Christmas, though, since it snowed at night after it was already dark. Still, it's pretty insane to see this stuff at this time of year.
But I can't sit around talking about the weather all day. In my last post, I mentioned that the size of my tumors hadn't really decreased visibly. That is no longer the case. Right now, the tumor in my neck is no longer visible (very cool!), although I can still feel it with my fingers, and the one on my chest looks a little smaller. Looking back, the size changes were a little weird. After the first couple of days, I thought I noticed a size decrease, but over the next several days, both tumors seemed to swell back up to at least their original size, and my shoulder started hurting again, which concerned me. Over the next few days, however, it went down to below the original size, and the shoulder pain dulled to almost nothing. Seems odd, and it'll be something to ask the doc about in a couple of days when I go in for treatment #2 (or as my sister calls it, "plug-n-chug"), but I guess as long as the end result is that the tumor is shrinking, I don't really care how it gets there!
The other thing to report is: I have now started shedding. Last Tuesday I finally got around to getting a haircut. Why would I get a haircut if my hair could start falling out? Well, if you had ever seen it all bushed out and sticking up all over the place, you would understand why I couldn't just let it go while waiting for it to start disappearing. Anyway, the very next day I started seeing a few hairs here and there, like on my desk at work. By that night, I could hang my head over the sink and start rubbing my head, and LOTS of little hairs would shower down. When I took a shower the next day and opened my eyes after rinsing my hair, my shoulders and arms were covered with hairs from my head, and water had actually started backing up in the drain! I used a plunger on the drain, and clumps of hair came up. Keep in mind the length of the hairs, so that'll give you an idea of the number of hairs that had to come out. Also, I can pull the hair on a random place on my head and come away with a tuft of hairs in my fingers. It doesn't hurt, as they are already pretty much detached, and there are no roots on the ends. Right now my hair is visibly thinner, and I'm assuming it will only get more so, so by the time you see me next, I may have already shaved it all off. Luckily, a couple of ladies have already said I'd look good bald, which, lets face it, is the primary thing guys worry about, so no worries! :-)
But I can't sit around talking about the weather all day. In my last post, I mentioned that the size of my tumors hadn't really decreased visibly. That is no longer the case. Right now, the tumor in my neck is no longer visible (very cool!), although I can still feel it with my fingers, and the one on my chest looks a little smaller. Looking back, the size changes were a little weird. After the first couple of days, I thought I noticed a size decrease, but over the next several days, both tumors seemed to swell back up to at least their original size, and my shoulder started hurting again, which concerned me. Over the next few days, however, it went down to below the original size, and the shoulder pain dulled to almost nothing. Seems odd, and it'll be something to ask the doc about in a couple of days when I go in for treatment #2 (or as my sister calls it, "plug-n-chug"), but I guess as long as the end result is that the tumor is shrinking, I don't really care how it gets there!
The other thing to report is: I have now started shedding. Last Tuesday I finally got around to getting a haircut. Why would I get a haircut if my hair could start falling out? Well, if you had ever seen it all bushed out and sticking up all over the place, you would understand why I couldn't just let it go while waiting for it to start disappearing. Anyway, the very next day I started seeing a few hairs here and there, like on my desk at work. By that night, I could hang my head over the sink and start rubbing my head, and LOTS of little hairs would shower down. When I took a shower the next day and opened my eyes after rinsing my hair, my shoulders and arms were covered with hairs from my head, and water had actually started backing up in the drain! I used a plunger on the drain, and clumps of hair came up. Keep in mind the length of the hairs, so that'll give you an idea of the number of hairs that had to come out. Also, I can pull the hair on a random place on my head and come away with a tuft of hairs in my fingers. It doesn't hurt, as they are already pretty much detached, and there are no roots on the ends. Right now my hair is visibly thinner, and I'm assuming it will only get more so, so by the time you see me next, I may have already shaved it all off. Luckily, a couple of ladies have already said I'd look good bald, which, lets face it, is the primary thing guys worry about, so no worries! :-)
Labels: lymphomania
posted by jblee at 9:53 AM
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