Summer, ER Visits And Hair Loss

My summer vacation is coming to an end - although no vacation should include so many medical appointments and nausea. Between the traveling and the chemo I have really neglected my updates, but my schedule will be more structured starting next week. I do much better with structure.

Chemotherapy has been really trying. I had a session last Tuesday and wound up in the ER on Friday. I had a really severe headache and couldn't keep any food or fluids down. They did a CT scan of my head and there was no evidence of bleeding or metastases. They gave me some morphine and some IV fluids and I felt better. Today is the first day that I have felt normal - no lingering headache pain, very little nausea.

Next week I'm going to speak with my oncologist about changing my treatments to every three weeks and going back on decadron (steroid) on treatment days. There are a lot of reasons, but it is also one of the only solutions that I can see to being in school and being in treatment. We're still waiting for scan approval. If I have a clean scan, I'll have two more treatments. If there has been disease progression, we'll have to switch chemo regimes. If there has been no change, then we have to discuss options.

I have a lot of my hair on this treatment. I have it cut very short and wear hats and wigs when I go out in public. It hasn't been as difficult as I had anticipated, but I still wish that I had my hair.

Okay, I'm a dork and Oprah is starting (Dr. Oz is on today) so I have to go!