Just a small update and some hair-raising progress

No news is good news and there hasn't been much to share for an update for me or Jenelle. Things have been going well for me and I am getting out more and doing things around the house. My numbers are still not completely normal, but they are close enough not to worry.

I have been having some trouble with my PICC line recently. It seems the skin is breaking down underneath the tagaderm (a clear plastic they use to cover the line to keep out bacteria.) It's an allergic reaction of sorts, and can happen when you've had a line in for a while. I've had this particular PICC line since January 27, and am hoping I can hang onto it for another 8 weeks to complete my IV chemo. The skin underneath is blistering which can lead to infection if it gets much worse. My home health nurse is making it her mission to help me keep this line and is doing all she can to keep it from getting infected. Yesterday, she applied a special dressing (I forget the name) which stung a bit, but helps to dry out the skin to help it heal. Have I mentioned yet how fantastic my home health nurse is? She is truly a saint. If you'd like to say some special prayers that this little skin problem doesn't get infected, that would be great.

And now for some fun... I've sort of been documenting the growth of my hair and thought it was time to share some of the photos. After starting chemo in December, it took two and a half weeks for my hair to fall out. About a week before I lost it, a male nurse I had one day made a comment to me that I thought was funny. He said that I was such a "pretty woman" that he feared I wouldn't handle losing my hair very well. His suggestion was to simply get it over with and shave it off. Obviously he hadn't gotten to know me well, because I am probably the least vain person I know. I laughed and told him I was actually looking forward to it falling out because I had been wanting to change my hair color anyway. On that day, I wasn't ready to shave it, but still it didn't bother me that it was going to be gone for a while.

Recently, my hair is really getting a bit thicker. So much so that I have been able to wear baseball caps instead of scarfs. The hair growing in is soft, and it appears to be the same color as Jenelle's. But I'll let you check out the progress for yourself... see the photos below:

January 2009

March 2009

April 24, 2009

See, I'm not modest at all! ;)

Thanks for the continued thoughts and prayers. KCA!