Hair vs. Lawn . . . Least I Won't Have to Spray Weed Killer on it

Today is a blog post of happiness.  First of all, my hives are gone!  Within 24 hours of taking me off the different version of Keppra, my hives had decreased by about half.  I am now very happily itch free.  Over the last six months I've had more allergic reactions then I think I have had my whole life.

Second piece of happy news is that my hair is coming back very wholeheartedly.  Now that a bit of time has passed, my hair seems to be coming back in darker, but when the Sun hits it, it has a bit of red-tinge to it.  I'm very intrigued to see what it will look like in the end.  Here is a picture of me trying to raise both eyebrows while Rock manage to catch me off-guard:

The hair is now back on about 90% of my head.  With any luck, by the end of the summer it will be back to 100% and will have grown longer than the hair that the balding man in every neighborhood has.  

The last piece of happiness is that I caught my first cold since I had my tumor-removal surgery/radiation/on-going chemo treatments back in November 2012.  This may seem like a bad thing, but it is actually really good.  I managed to fight it off!  I had a sore throat and fever on Friday, which turned into a clogged up nose and cough on Saturday.  By today (Sunday), I almost feel back to normal!  Now it is just a bit of a drippy nose; and other than that I do not feel sick anymore.  My immune system is now my hero (hopefully a really hot looking one - Avengers here I come!)

Oooo!  Another happy thing that I almost forgot about!  I am very happy to say that I will not be going through a chemo treatment during my ten year high school reunion in August (Go Ferris!).  My final (knock-on-wood) chemo treatment EVER is the week before, so I plan on being there.  I wonder how many of the women/men who come will be crazy enough to wear heels and suit coats at Manito Park.  This could be amusing. :)  

Mars Here I Come!

I think I would live a lot better on Mars.  I've got to be allergic to less stuff there then here on Earth.  To make a long story short, I've broken out in hives . . . again.

Last time I broke out (after a couple ER visits, Epi-pens, and IVs full of Benadryl and adrenaline), it was due to one of the two anti-seizure prescriptions that I was on.  That was Dilantin, and I believe that drug is evil incarnate after itching non-stop for a month.  This time it is my other anti-seizure that they kept me on since I showed no ill effects initially.  Here is a report of the events that have led up to my new disdain of Keppra:

Sunday - Managed to get a sunburn on the back of my neck.  Put some aloe vera on it, all was good.

Tuesday - The sunburn no longer hurt, but was beginning to itch.  I thought that it was just because it was such a bad burn.

Wednesday - Rock notices that there are bumps where the sunburn is healing, and that there are bumps where there was not a sunburn originally.

Thursday - Bumps/hives have now covered the entire back of my neck and shoulders.  It itches A LOT.

Friday - Wake up, only to find that the size of my hive area has doubled.  Time to contact the doctors.

I went off right after I got off work to see the docs, and their conclusion was that my Keppra was the blame.  First, the Keppra prescription makes some people more sensitive to sunlight.  Strike one.  Next, it was noticed on my Keppra prescription bottle the label of:  "This is the same medication you have been getting.  Color, size, or shape may appear differently".  Strike two.  Last, when they asked the date that I started this "new" Keppra, it happened to be the day before I got my bad sunburn that started the whole mess.  Strike three.  The docs decided to take me off the Keppra I was on (Levetiracetam Cambe), and put me back on the Keppra I was taking (Levetiracetam Lupin).  My next mission?  Finding a pharmacy that still had a stock of my Keppra/Lupin.  This is when imagining some James Bond music helps relive the adventure.

After visiting my original pharmacy, Rock and I discovered that they did not have the old version of my Keppra prescription.  Their suggestion?  Call up other pharmacies until I find one that does.  After calling up five pharmacies, mostly leaving messages, we received a call back from one of them.  It was there!  We drove out, and I let them know my "new" prescription for my "old" Keppra/Lupin medication.  It took them an hour to fill it.  A full hour!!  Apparently the other pharmacy that my prescription was originally at took their time faxing over a copy of it.  If nothing else it was nice to sit in air conditioning for awhile and find a couple types of anti-itch cream.

So, I now have the prescription of Keppra that I am not allergic to.  If my hives spread any more I get to have the duty of heading back to the doctors to try and figure out something else on Monday.  

On a much happier note, I've decided to stop shaving my head.  The hives that popped up stopped me from shaving it this week, so I'm just going to continue doing so.  There is still a section on the left side of my head that is being stubborn and not doing any regrowth, but the rest of my head seems happy.  If all else fails I'll do a epic comb-over or shave my head (you can thank the school secretary for this idea :) like Miley Cyrus.  This could be the next big look!   

Don't worry, I don't plan on doing the Britney Spears hair style when she shaved.  Even I'm not that crazy. . . yet :)

Stupid Sun

The only point of today's entry?  I learned a lesson today.  The doctors and nurses told me more than once to be careful when I exposed my head to the Sun since it would be more sensitive due to my radiation.  I've tried to be a good patient, and have kept my head covered 95% of the time that I am outside (the 5% is mainly due to answering the door when some new person comes along to sell their church - sorry, I'm taken - or putting the hat/scarf on as I'm literally walking out the door).  

For about three hours this morning my husband and I went outside to get some yard work done.  I spent most of my time doing the first set of weeding this spring.  I made a point to be a good person and listen to my doctors/nurses, so I wore big straw hat and some heavy-duty sunscreen.  I even wore a "Buff" head piece underneath since some light could make it through the hat (thanks Marie for that gift, it is awesome!).  It was nice to work outside and enjoy the warm weather and sunshine.  At least it was until I came inside.  My husband was observant enough to notice that the sun had made it through part of the brim of my hat.  Here is the end result:

The one good thing is that you can see some of my hair coming back in on the back of my neck.  The bad thing is that I managed to get a sunburn that burned like an iron when we put some aloe vera on it.  The pain from that competes well from when Dr. O pulled the drainage tube out of my head a day after surgery.

So, the end result is that yes, I do sunburn A LOT on my head and neck.  This is truly an momentous event, since normally it is my husband who sunburns when he even looks at the Sun.  Now I will have to be the vampire.  The good thing about all this?  I am soooo going to use this to get out of yard work.    

Want a Good Horror Story? Have a Cat Lick Your Head!

Three weeks after my last round of chemo, and I finally feel as if I am eating normally again.  In the couple weeks after my last round of chemo ended, food that often sounded delicious did not agree with my stomach, and eating more than half a bowl of cereal was a rarity.  I am very happy to say that I just ate two pieces of pizza and no thoughts of potential stomach "expenses" have passed.  Yeah!

I am also very happy to say that I am almost back to my original starting weight before they filled me full of steroids.  I'm a human female, so trust me . . . this is bigger to me than the hair.  I never thought being able to slip on an old and grungy pair of jeans would be so wonderful!  On another ascetic note, my hair follicles are growing back like weeds.  There is hair growing back on my entire head except for one section on my left side about half the side of my hand.  Everyday there seems to be more hair coming in, so I am really hoping that in a week or two I will be able to succumb to an itchy-hair-growing-scalp and stop shaving my head each week.  My new hair that is coming in seems to be an reenactment of my childhood head in a quickened time lapse.  It comes in blond and curly, falls out, comes back dark.  It is like being a childhood toe-head compressed to a two weeks span.  It is too early to tell if the hair that returns will be wavy like my previous hair, curly like when I was a kid, or coming in straight just to be different.  Time will tell!

The most important medical news is that my left ear is still a mystery to Dr. Stilles.  All swelling and redness are gone (woohoo!), however, now that all that gunk is gone, some scarring is now visible.  My hearing in that damaged ear has improved to about 50% though, so I'll take what I can.  We're going to let my ear continue to sit and (hopefully) heal more for the next six months, then do some more tests and take another look to see how this ear will be in the long run.  My next goal is to be able to turn my ears in two different directions to hear things said around me just like cats and dogs can do.  Now that would be cool.

Next big medical event will be my next round of chemo.  I did really well on my triple dose of chemo meds according to Dr. Wagner (apparently most people he deals with don't even feel well enough to get out of bed when they are on a dosage similar to mine - thinking about it, I really wouldn't mind being able to sleep in a couple hours each day over the span of a week ;).  My next round will be starting Tuesday night next week when I take my first dose for the next five days.  I didn't really feel this higher dosage too much until two or three days had passed; I'm hoping for the same this time.  If I do lose my stomach, I'll just make sure to aim for the cat instead of my husband.  He (the cat, not my husband - you know you thought it was Rock) owes me anyway for licking my scalp while I was asleep.  Trust me . . .waking up to a giant cat licking your head is more traumatizing than waking up from brain surgery.

Hairy and Loving It!

I am now (FINALLY) on my last day of this round of chemo treatment on my triple dosage.  The first three days went well, I was certainly more tired than normal, but it was manageable.  This weekend however has been a new chemotherapy adventure; it was much like the weather, stormy with occasional glimpses of sunshine.

Step 1:  My tummy felt a bit upset on Saturday when I woke up, so I decided to just make a couple pieces of toast for breakfast.  Bad idea.  Don't know if it was the butter or the bread that resulted in the rapid evacuation of my stomach contents.

Step 2:  Don't eat anything!  Smells were gross, thinking about food was gross, TV commercials were gross,  meals in my book were gross, water was gross, etc, etc.  My husband was kind enough to only eat non-scented food.  Anti-nausea pills did nothing!

Step 3:  Take more anti-nausea drugs!  My stomach stopped rolling enough that I decided to try and eat something.  I still wasn't hungry, but I do know that food is an important thing that contributes to survival of the fittest.  Toast still seemed like a big no-no, so I went with some good ol' $0.89 box of mac and cheese.  I managed eat about 1/4 bowl of it, and then stopped.  YEAH!  Survival!

Step 4:  Waited a couple hours for my stomach empty (NOT out of my mouth thankfully), and then took my last round of chemo drugs for the next four weeks.  Then to bed, my vomit bowl coming with me.  The cat may throw up/drool on the bed, but I refuse to.

Step 5:  My tummy this morning felt like it did yesterday morning, so I decided to try a small bowl of cereal instead of toast.  Success!  I haven't eaten anything since then, but the food is staying down.

Despite everything with my intestinal tract, my hair is very happy right now.  It is growing like there is no tomorrow!  (Much like the grass is some patches in our yard).  A couple months ago we had to shave about 20% of my head, now we are at least up to 50%, if not more.  We also now have to shave my head more often, since the hair that is there is growing in faster.  YEAH!  I'm planning on gradually beginning to switch over to wearing hats to work instead of scarves as the growth continues.

Two months ago

Today

Right now my head looks more a balding man's head than my own, but least my hair is coming back instead of going away!  Unfortunately, it does seem to coming back the same color now.  Darn; I was hoping for green or blond.

Anti-Nausea, Chemotherapy, Anti-Seizure, and Ear Antibiotics . . . A Recipe For Adventure!

Happy Spring Break everyone!  Teacher's everywhere probably agree with me, but parents whose kids are now home for the week might not.  At least it is sunny so they could always be pushed outside to play.  (Now that I've said that I'm sure that I've jinxed it and it will start raining/snowing any minute).

First things first; an ear infection update.  On Thursday I went in to see Dr. Stilles (my radiologist) . . . again. This time it was for a second look at my infected left ear to see if the given treatment had any affect.  Happily, all the gross gunk/puss/gooey-ness that was there is now gone, however it is still just as swollen as before.  The good thing is that this pretty much eliminates the chances that it is a fungal infection.  However, the bad thing is that it makes it more likely that it is permanent damage from the radiation treatment.  Dr. Stilles has put me on my antibiotic ear drops for another week to see if all we need to do is continue the treatment on the infection longer than normal thanks to my chemo treatments.  If there is no significant change when I see him again in two weeks, then I'll have to start searching for hearing aids.  Yuck.  If nothing else, it will guarantee that no one will ever be able to talk behind my back (Ha!  Knee slap on that one!)

I also visited Dr. Wagner (my oncologist) the same afternoon I saw Dr. Stiles.  I am very happy to say that the results of the blood work testing that was done that day with Dr. Wagner (or his identical twin brother ;) were really good.  My blood work, in a very pleasant surprise, came back 100% normal.  Woohoo!  Since the nausea I experienced with my last week of chemo was quite a bit below what most people experience with a double dosage, and my blood work came back so well, my weeks of chemo treatments over the next six months will all be triple my original dosage.  That Temodar (chemo) prescription and I are going to have to bond even more.  The only difference from now on (other than the dosage) is that I am going to start my five days of chemo treatment on a Wednesday instead of a Monday.  That way my last two, and toughest, days will be over the weekend instead of on Thursday and Friday when I am working.  I would really rather not lose my lunch on a student if I could avoid it.  So far I feel the most nauseous at home, not at work.  I think the fact that I am always up and moving at work helps with that.  However, this could be a good lesson in health class on the digestive system :).  

I also have a request for bald/balding people everywhere . . . how can you prevent getting a sunburn on your head ?  Sunscreen makes my scalp into a greasy mess, and most hats that look cool enough for spring/summer weather have holes or gaps in them that would expose parts of my head or my neck.  I went out into our yard yesterday for fifteen minutes without a hat, and managed to get a sunburn on my head.  They really weren't kidding when they said that the radiation treatment would make my head ultra-sensitive to sunlight.  Today when I go out to do some yard work, I'm going to just wear a hooded light jacket along with a bandanna.  I may look like a creepy vampire, but I won't get burned!

For anyone who gets really bored over Spring Break:
LOTS of dominoes

No More Flaming Tortillas Allowed

Three weeks of work complete and counting!  Sorry it has been so long since I've written another entry.  Being back at work does take up all the free/boredom time I had before.

I feel that probably my biggest accomplishment since my brain surgery in November is that I have managed to make it through the last three weeks of work without hitting what my husband calls "crash mode".  (I have a feeling he gathered that saying from one of his destructive X Box games).  I have also had my first round of chemo after my six week straight of treatment, and let me tell you . . . double the chemo dosage is certainly a new experience.  Before my major food repulsion was blueberry yogurt, thanks to my double dosage, it now seems to be ALL yogurt.  I had a hope that the nasty/gross/vomit/overall-eww feeling of this would pass after I finished that week of treatment, but unfortunately it has not chosen to leave.  After my next six months of chemo treatment end I am going to have to create some real courage to attempt to try yogurt again.  Or, if you have someone you really don't care for, give me some yogurt (preferably blueberry), and tell me where to aim.

Right now my life has changed from staring at the inside of our house all day to a very predictable schedule.  Now it is work, doctor, sleep . . . work, doctor, sleep . . . work, doctor, sleep, etc.  To help with this I have set a time limit on myself; my goal is to leave work every day by at least five o'clock.  For my first week back, my goal was 5:30, but I've learned that while I don't feel the tiredness at the time, I do feel it when I hit the bed that night.  My husband has been pretty nifty though and has begun cooking dinner during the week so there is dinner there and waiting for me when I get home . . . and this time he hasn't set fire to anything!  (To make a long story short, he once left tortillas in the oven and forget they were there.  You can probably predict what happened after about twenty minutes of tortilla-oven-cooking).

Last Thursday I had my first appointment with Dr. Stilles post-radiation.  It was good and bad.  First of all the good:  They did not feel a need to do the scheduled CT Scan since my MRI a couple weeks before showed absolutely no tumor regrowth or brain tissue damage from the radiation treatment.  Whew!  That was the good news.  Now the not so good news:  My left ear appeared to have an infection, but it was not a normal infection.  It apparently looks a lot like swimmer's ear since it is before my ear drum; but the problem is that the medication they had me take has had zero impact.  That leave my special left radiation-filled ear with two options; one is that it is an odd fungal infection.  The second option is that it is permanent damage as a result of the radiation being fired at the area for six weeks.  I will be meeting with Dr. Stilles this Thursday again to discuss options.  If nothing else, one amusing thing about this is that everyone sounds very odd in my left ear, while very normal in my right.  When I woke up this morning I let my husband know that he sounded a bit like a koala (No, I have no idea what that sounds like, I was half asleep and clearly in the middle of some really weird dream).  My hope is that I can figure out a way for my husband to sound like Leonardo DiCaprio.  Wish me luck! ;)