On My Knees But Not In My Nose

So most of my hair started falling out the day before my second chemotherapy treatment. Finally I had hubby shave it down to mere millimeters just to make the showering process less messy. I still actually have some stubble left all over my head — it's just not much. I'm wondering if I'll keep it or if the Taxol I start after this last round of Adriamycin/Cytoxin will make it fall out.

Along those same lines, I've been kind of holding out on shaving my legs and arms. I'm thinking I'll just lose that hair and not worry about it. I've definitely thinned out. I did give in and shave my underarms this last week, but I've never been a hairy leg girl, so I just let that go.

Tonight on the way to church (the first time I've been in two weeks) I had on a denim skirt. When I would sit down my knees would show, so on the way there hubby looked over and saw hairy knees. I hadn't really noticed until then. The good thing is that we usually sit towards the back and it's dark enough that no one would notice when we were in the pew.

I just find some irony that I have hair on my knees and none in my nose that also happens to be longer than what's on my head.

Nose Hairs and Other Random Things

I take prescription antihistamines. Since I've started chemo, I've not been diligent about taking them in the morning and night both. When I was throwing up so violently after my first chemo, followed by four days of eating practically nothing, pills were not part of my thought pattern. Unless they were for nausea, of course.

For the last week or so my nose has been rather drippy, so I've been diligently taking my antihistamines morning and night. And I'm still pretty drippy. Which got me to thinking this morning.

Someone hubby works with mentioned that someone they knew lost their nose hairs along with all the other hairs that are unfortunately lost (although I won't mind not shaving my arms and legs, so that doesn't fall into the unfortunate category). And after their nose hairs fell out their nose ran all the time.

I checked in my mirror this morning. I don't know what I started with as far as nose hairs go. I can still see some, but I'm thinking that the nose hairs have significantly lessened enough in population that I am now in the 'nose run all the time' category, regardless of taking my antihistamine pills.

On another note, had you noticed that on my right sidebar I've put my upcoming treatment schedule? Betsy had that idea so people who wanted to specifically pray could find the dates without digging through old posts. You know, the ones about nose hairs and tongues and birds on pants.

I take a shot that helps my body produce more bone marrow the day following my chemotherapy. One potential side effect is bone pain. I didn't have any the first time, although I was already sicker than a dog. But after the second treatment two weeks ago and the shot, I did have some bone pain. It started in my ribs and then a couple of days later it hurt to take deep breaths. I had significant fatigue starting four days after chemo on Sunday which coincided with the bone pain. I had almost a full week of fatigue. We'll see what happens after the shot tomorrow (which we do at home and hubby gives me in the stomach!)

Switching gears, we lost a dear older friend at church a couple of weeks ago. This couple is part of the small group we host in our home. Bill was one of the most amazing Christian men I've ever met. Our kids love both he and his wife. After he passed away, Sparky said to her dad, "I think I'm going to quit being friends with old men. They keep dying on me." We had very special friends in Illinois, and Franklin died not too long after we moved to Virginia. We were family friends, but Sparky had a special relationship with him. He taught her how to use her natural artistic abilities to paint.

Chatty is away at horse camp as an assistant counselor for the next two weeks. It's harder for her to be away without one of us than for Sparky to just take off to other countries and continents. Our kids are all so different!

Sparky decided I needed to do an update on my 'Meet the Kids' posts since things have changed. I think I may take her up on it.

Oh, and in again totally unrelated but kind of big news, depending on which camp you're from, I'm on Facebook now. I was a serious hold-out, but I started to see some benefits and decided to take the plunge. Now I'm addicted to this Gardens of Time game. That wasn't the benefit I saw and probably won't ever be the benefit! If I know you from here and you want to friend me, just send me a request.

Signs Of Summer

Bundling Skills

We like to watch the TV show American Pickers at our house. If you've seen the show, Frank always likes to go for the bundle. Instead of paying one price for something, and one price for something else, he tries to bundle two or more things for a little lower price.

Those skills came in handy when Sparky went to the Dominican Republic in February. They had some good shopping close by, and she was able to buy lots of bracelets and necklaces for practically nothing to give to her friends. We even have a few left over.

The same man who made the jewelry also made wooden carvings. Sparky always tries to get Caboose some kind of carving if possible (and he loves turtles), and the Hispaniolan Woodpecker was a must for her dad. Not to mention her dad's love of birding, Sparky saw the Hispaniolan Woodpecker when she was in the DR.

The woodpecker was $10 and the turtle was $7. She looked around and didn't seem overly interested, and then asked if he would take $12 for both. He did.

She came home and told me all about her bundling skills! She did good.