Hurry Up Already

Greetings from bay 22 - Moakley Clinic.

Today marks the first day of the second round of ICE. I can't believe three weeks have already passed since the last time I sat in this very bed.  This time everything seems a bit different: maybe it all has a little tinge of dread but also a glimmer of hope that this could be the second to last regimen of chemotherapy I will ever have to receive.

Also, I am thankful today for innovation and clinical trials.  If you read my last post, consuming the Mesna is absolutely atrocious, we were trying to do anything we could do to avoid me having to drink it again.  So much so we were going to have an in-home nurse come and administer it through my port.  Well turns out we won't need to do that!  When the doctors did a clinical trial on the administration of ICE, they chose to administer the Ifosfomide in combination with the Mesna in one BIG bag instead of separate small bags and then the at-home-dose.  According to the trial, only 1 out of 70-something people experienced the bleeding so those odds are in my favor :) So when given this option I was stoked BECAUSE I don't have to drink that nasty stuff again.

For those of you who have been following my hair-loss and growth progression - there have been a few updates lately.  Around Thursday, my scalp started hurting and by Thursday afternoon, the first clumps of hair started coming out.  Later on Thursday I gave myself my first haircut and took it down to 1/4" - within 24 hours or so, I had B shave it all the way down to nearly nothing (the only way to describe it is I didn't have to use an attachment on the clippers).  After some monitoring and predictions it looks like I am going to go totally bald - I mean skinheaded softness.  At this point I just wish everything would hurry up already and fall out so I can just have a super soft head instead of the lingering prickly hair that is interrupting everything including my sleep.  I will post a picture sometime so y'all can visualize :)

I will keep you posted on any new developments. Keeping sending positive karmic wishes that this works and will put me in CR (complete remission).