A Long Process!

Do you believe this but is has now been almost six months since my diagnosis of uterine cancer and five months have gone by since the chemotherapy began.

I really can't complain all that much about the chemo as I really didn't have a whole lot of issues that made me sick or very uncomfortable throughout the treatments. A couple, maybe once or twice where I either was nauseated or felt a bit of nausea and no major problems with fatigue. But then, I tend to be fatigued all the time -or so it does seem anyway -so how would I know what was causing what in that respect then.

My hair disappeared almost all of it, in one week -the week before Maya's 7th birthday and I had my head shaved completely the night of her birthday -October 18th.

Finally, the hair is beginning to grow back in now -slowly yes, but surely. The question now becomes what color or colors will it be and will it be straight or maybe even curly? Who knows and who cares. Just give me hair! So at least with something covering my head again I won't be freezing at the drop of a hat -literally and figuratively in this instance!

The biggest problem I had throughout the whole chemo treatment though was the lectures from my oncologist about my weight losses!

Here I was thinking I was doing a good thing, trying to curb my eating to bring my weight down more to make my primary care physician happy, lower by blood sugar levels in that process and besides that, I was happy seeing the pounds come off when I got weighed at the oncology center every two or three weeks.

The weight loss actually was due more to the fact the chemo did have a nasty effect on my mouth though -those painful little mouth ulcers on my tongue and for about two or three weeks early on, problems with my sinus that was making it extremely difficult for me to chew and swallow -and not being caused then just by those darned mouth ulcers!

I suppose the only good thing about losing weight that way was that I didn't have to think about or worry my little head about taking any kind of weight loss pills during that time to lose any weight. The almost twenty pounds I dropped came about pretty naturally cause if you can't chew, can't swallow, odds are your eating is going to be lessened for sure as will your weight!

My mouth still isn't back to form yet. No, it's not near as bad as it was even a month ago but it's still not back 100% as yet. The mouth is still very, very dry which is annoying and makes most everything I eat still feel a bit like it has the texture of sandpaper -with ice cream being about the only food item that doesn't give me major hissy fits!

I still don't have the full taste sensations I used to have with my taste buds too and that, I do miss. Food I generally like and which may look really great sitting in front of me, just doesn't seem to have the right taste quality to it as yet.

And the really big issue with respect to food and beverage, as I have learned, is that any food cooked in a tomato based sauce are best served without a glass of wine or a bottle/can of beer to wash them down as the combination of those things tends to make my mouth and tongue feel as if someone had just lit a small bonfire there!

Now that is something I am hoping the return to normal of my mouth and tastebuds will soon cure cause one thing I did always enjoy -a lot -pizza and a nice cold beer!

Peace and have a good day!