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.