RIP Steroids, You Will Not Be Missed

Today has been my "let's see how this tumor is doing" day (that is a direct quote from Dr. O).  First, I had an MRI this morning at 8:00am.  It was thirty minutes long, which may seem like awhile, but goes much quicker when you enjoy the view from inside the machine.  There is a mirror above your head that gives you a reflective view of the parking lot out of the window, where there are plenty of cars.  I've discovered that if you imagine the cars animated like in the movie Cars, time goes much faster (and it really makes you wonder about your own car does when it is left alone in the garage).

After the MRI, I traveled a couple blocks away to see Dr. O and his resulting analysis of my MRI.  This was a really important MRI; the big thing that Dr. O was looking for was any visible sign of the tumor's returning presence.  If it looked like my James Dean was being stubborn and was regrowing, then this whole brain tumor removal process that started in November would begin all over again, except a lot more aggressively.  I am very happy to say that based on the MRI I took this morning that are no signs of tumor regrowth.  YEAH!  With the release of pressure inside my left lobe, my brain stem has happily returned to its normal location, my left optic nerve is no longer swollen, and the empty space in my left lobe left from the tumor removal has mostly refilled itself as the nerves on the left side relax with the increase in space.  Based on what Dr. O saw, he has now taken me off of all of my steroids and says that he hopes he doesn't have to see me at all for six months when I will do another MRI. I'm pretty happy about that since according to Dr. O today he removed 7cm worth of tumor.  That is big!  Now I can maybe begin reclaiming my jawline since my steroids are going on permanent vacation.

On another note, my hair is growing back in a very interesting fashion.  So far the only sections that are growing back are sections that never fell out in the first place during radiation.  My husband had much fun marking that out on my head.

 He wanted to use a permanent marker, but I put my foot down and said that I would only accept eye liner as his artistic tool.  He tried to draw a smiley face as well on my scalp, but his unconscious giggling gave it away. I am happy to say that even coming off radiation/chemo, I can still run faster than he can. So far the rest of my head that Chris did not outline is staying bald.  I figure I'll keep my cow-spot areas shaved short until the rest of my hair comes in.  Until then I'll just keep using hats and scarves to keep it mostly covered.

Oh, and here is a random bit of coolness with scarves . . . there are hangers that are created only to hold scarves!  That was a very fun find, since before this all of the scarves I was wrapping my head in were stored in a garbage bag stuck in the corner of my closet.

My next mission, to find a scarf I could wear as a head scarf on Pi Day (March 14th).  Now this will be a fun hunt!

Mr. T and I Might Need to Share a Hair Stylist

I'm done with radiation and this round of chemo!  YEAH!  Now I can hopefully begin to function like a normal human being again.  The thing I am looking forward to the most?  Eating!  I am really looking forward to drinking water that doesn't taste like metal, and food tasting like it should.  (Hopefully I'll continue my new-found likeness of meatloaf :).

The other thing that I am really looking forward to is my hair on my head returning.  My radiation was strong enough that I lost hair on my whole head . . . except for this ring on the top.  That section of hair is growing in nicely, but I look a bit like a balding Mr. T with my funky set of hair that never fell out, but is growing strong.  I am planning on keeping any hair that is growing in as a pretty short buzz-cut until all of my hair begins to return.  I would rather not look like a rocker from the 80s.  However, thanks to losing the hair I did learn that I have a total of eleven moles/birthmarks on my scalp.  Who knew?

Now that I am done with radiation/chemo for now, I am moving onto the next health issue brought up by my tumor . . . teeth.  My mouth was already messed up, but the dentist and I could not figure out why.  What was the oddity?  Well, I don't just have four wisdom teeth, I have six of them.  Yup, six.  My mouth had plenty of space with four, so there was no plan to take them out.  Two years ago, the dentist and I were a bit surprised when the x-rays were taken, and I had more wisdom teeth coming in.  Apparently this is something that is not unknown to dentists, but is normally a genetic trait that runs in families.  No one else in my family has had this, so it was a mystery.  The presence of the tumor might of messed things up enough that it caused my extra wisdom teeth to arrive.  Ugh.  Those extra wisdom teeth are squishing all my other teeth together, so before I can have my wisdom teeth removed, repair has to be done on my squished teeth.  Apparently the radiation directed at my head and this round of chemo did some stuff to my teeth and gums as well.  So I don't have any visits to my brain/chemo/radiation doctors this next week, but I do get to have bonding time with the dentist.  The dentist's advice to me when I saw him for my cleaning yesterday?  "Next time make sure to come in before you have surgery or begin radiation and chemotherapy, so we can try and prevent future problems."  I had to explain to him that I only had two days notice before surgery, and that they were closed those two days.  The world just might be ending the first time I find a dentist that is open seven days a week.

Next thing I am looking forward to is getting off my steroid prescription.  I am really hoping that when I see Dr. O and Dr. Wagner the last week in February, that they will be very happy to take me off of it.  I would love to have a jawline back.  Facial hair is also annoying, but I've been trying to keep it nicely groomed ;)

The last thing I am excited about being able to do again is returning to work.  It is said that a teacher never goes into teaching for the money, and it is true.  I am admitting that I really do miss my students and working with middle schoolers.  It will feel wonderful to wake up each day knowing that I have sometime to do with my day other than wandering through the house looking for ANYTHING to do.  Besides, playing with chemicals in chemistry is quite a bit more fun than playing with the chemicals used for cleaning the house.  
 

Thursdays Can Be as Happy as Fridays

The whole point of the blog post today is to share the list of happy news that has recently occurred and been verified!  Here is the list of "Happy News":

1.  My younger sister (Jaclyn) and her husband (Adam) who live down in Denton, TX (just North of Dallas) are expecting their first child!  Since there is still some doubt as to whether I will be able to have children after everything that has happened, this means that my husband and I are very willing to become a obnoxious and spoiling aunt and uncle.  We have already decided that we will make sure to send them those annoying gifts that the child loves, but make extra noise, have multiple lights, run through batteries like no tomorrow, and have special assembly requirements.  With any luck, after a couple years time when my husband and I can begin to relax after my James Dean tumor decides not to return, we can look into our own child options.

2.  Tuesday next week will be my last day of radiation, and the last day of this first round of chemo!  From this point onward, for at least the next six months, I'll have four weeks "off" and then a week "on" of chemo.  The first week I'm back on chemo will be the second week in March, and they plan at having me at twice the dosage I've been at the last six weeks.  Depending on how that week goes, my next chemo (four weeks later) will be at triple my original dosage.  I think that my anti-nausea medication will become my new best friend.

3.  I'll be returning back to Marion School to first the first Monday in March; March 4th!  My immune system is doing a lot better than average chemo patients, so I did ask Dr. Wagner at my last appointment if I could return sooner, but after some thought he said that I could return sooner if I wished, but recommended against it since the flu is still out and about.  Darn!  He also did let me know that he was pretty sure that it would be okay for me to continue to teach during my future week-long chemo treatments since my immune system did so well over the six weeks of chemo.  He did let me know that increased nausea might become more of a problem since it would be a higher dosage, so the second week in March was going to end up being the "experimental" week.  I'll be thinking a lot of happy-tummy thoughts that week!  

4.  My husband considers this happy news:  I now sneeze out of my nose.  Apparently how I sneezed before surgery (out of my mouth) was wrong and gross in his opinion. So, I still cannot move one of my eyebrows, but can sneeze correctly . . . while rolling my eyes at my husband.      

I Don't Feel Like Glitter . . . Twilight Lies!

I learned Friday that it is possible to be a vampire.  The radiation aimed at my brain makes the skin on my scalp extra sensitive, so I was warned about avoiding sunlight when I first started my radiation treatments.  Somehow in the ten minute drive between our house and the radiology/oncology department at the hospital, my uncovered left ear managed to get two to three minutes of direct sunlight (the rest was under a hat).  Well, to make a long story short, my radiation burn on my ear is now very unhappy.  It has now hit a point of vampiric classification.  Sunlight = pain/death of skin.  This means that Braum Stoker was correct with his Dracula, and Stephanie Meyer was incorrect with her Edward.  (Besides, anyone from Western Washington knows that everyone glows after nine months with no sun.)

When I was laying in radiation on Friday I started having an itch on my leg and let my mind wander  . . . "hmm . . . that is annoying, I'm not allowed to move . . . I should wash my jeans later . . . I wonder if it is a bug bite . . . did I just get the bug bite? . . . Spider Man had a radiation-spider bug bite . . . maybe I'll turn into a Spider Woman."  Anyway, after more superhero/villain thoughts while I laid there, I began compounding a list of superheroes/villains that were created with the "assistance" of radiation exposure.  I could really use this radiation I am receiving to my advantage in my quest to gain superpowers.

Superheroes
-  Spider Man:  No one is naturally that flexible.
-  Hulk:  I wouldn't mind being a She-Hulk, as long as I had the strength of a body builder without looking like one
-  Fantastic Four:  Invisible Woman would be good, expect for the lack of clothing required
-  Miss Marvel:  I don't think I meet the requirement of alien exposure, and only put up with flying when it involves being in a commercial airline.
-  Mr. Manhattan:  He is the equivalent of a resident at a nudist colony when it comes to clothing, so not for me.
-  Powerpuff Girls:  They are the same age as the students I teach, I don't want to age that far backwards in time.

Villains
-  Sandman:  "Mr. Sandman . . . Give me a dream . . . dumdumdumdum".  No more explanation is needed.
-  Godzilla:  Terrible breath.
-  Dr. Doom:  He wouldn't be too bad, the mask was awkward looking, but ruling the world would be nice.

If you have any other suggestions for my future (most likely) super villain status, feel free to let me know.  Then I can begin my process of taking over the world.  I am looking for minor henchmen to join me, applications must be received by the end of my radiation treatments on Friday.   Who knew that paying for radiation after my tumor removal surgery would be such a good investment?