The road out of Cancerville, 6 months after chemo

It's a little bit more than 6 months since the last time chemo drugs ran through my veins.

Something interesting just happened for the very first time since that day, sparking this post. :P

I'll start with normal hair biology. :)
Normally, in a world without chemotherapy, about 90% of your hair is in some phase of the growth cycle. 10% is in the resting state. The hair that rests usually falls out after 2-3 months.. or so they say. It's perfectly normal to lose 50-100 hairs from your head a day. Sounds like a tremendous amount, but trust me, it's nothing compared to what happens when your hair releases after that first dose of chemo.

So, as my faithful readers know, my hair started to grow back in late September. The only early hair growth photo is the one from the Martha Stewart show outing here. I've seen photos of others hair growth and it isn't always the way mine went. ALL my hair grew back at once. Even when it was just a few angstroms long, it was all the same length and pretty much covered my entire head. Maybe it's a reflection of just how thick my hair has always been or a reflection of how fast it grows. It seemed like forever, but now it's growing like a weed again. Definitely more than the under a half inch a month norm. What's interesting is that I have not had the normal shedding at all. Not one bit. Trust me. I check for this! LOL. My hair has just been growing and growing. Not a hair in the shower. Not a hair on the towel. Nothing. Then, today, while sitting here, scratching my head, A HAIR FELL OUT!!!!

Yeah. I know. No big deal. People lose hair everyday. I said so myself. 50-100 hairs a day is normal. So, sue me. I'm an underachiever and happy to be one. Because my hair is still short and curly, I don't brush it. No need. I don't do anything to it except towel it dry. Don't need product anymore at all. It's just curly and that's it. After that one hair fell out, I ran my hands through my hair and at least 3 more fell out. I know, I know. Big deal.

But it is a big deal. This is normal. It's normal to lose a few hairs. It is NOT normal to have absolutely no hair shedding except in the immediate post-chemo world. It's moving further along on that highway out of Cancerville. :) OK. It's probably more of a slow, curvy rural road out of Cancerville. No matter. It's a way out and I'm on it and looking for the one-way signs!

Speaking of signs on the road out of Cancerville, here's one more. My nails. I didn't do taxol which is the agent known to really be horrendous on nails. Still, the chemo I did messed with my nails. It's the very nature of those sorts of drugs. Of course my nails stopped growing on chemotherapy. Cut them in June and didn't need to trim them again until sometime this fall. Medically, you can make a few diagnoses by looking at nails. It's something I was fascinated with once upon a time. It's something else I've been watching closely. I didn't notice any changes until my nails started growing. Once that happened, it was clear that my nails had changed color. It's subtle. You have to be looking to see it. The "bad" brownish pink color now just makes up the upper fifth of the pink part of my nails. Everything below that is a nice healthy pink. :) Soon, you won't be able to see that there was anything wrong at all. There will be no signs that there was once chemotherapy coursing through my veins.. at least not in my nails.

I think we are overdue for some photos. I had Rachel snap some before photos the day before the exchange surgery. We'll have to do a before and after shot so I can post a before, middle and after comparison. Probably should have taken progressive photos during the expander process. Didn't think of it until now. It might have been fun to watch my chest grow and then deflate in stop action. LOL!

Another day, another mile out from Cancerville. :)

Oh yes.. going to head to a sporting goods store in search of that zip up sports bra. Nordies didn't have it here. :) Visiting the local breast cancer resource center on Monday for a fitting to see if they have anything that will help too.