Trying to get Normal

 I miss drinking.

It wasn’t just the taste of sipping bourbon, I never got drunk, I just enjoyed it. It was part of my lifestyle as a writer. Sitting at night, sipping a drink. Doing a shot when I crossed a word count threshold. 

It was a running joke in my family.

Not that I don’t have permission to sip an occasional libation from my doctor, I do. But the one thing I loved now tastes horrible.

Metallic and peppery. Even in the tiniest of sips.

I am a salty savory person, but as of lately, sugary gets rid of the nausea.

Speaking of which, someone commented mints. I tried one today after eating a half muffin at work, to hopefully feign off sickness … it worked.

I like to write these blogs at the same time every night, it gives me a sense of how I am feeling and progressing each day.

Thank you. I got some fabulous gifts in the mail from Jamie and Karen. Jaime sent beautiful scarves and inspirational gifts, a beautiful breast cancer bracelet. Karen sent me what felt like an eight-pound box filled with assorted mints and ChapStick! Wait, maybe it was her that said about the mints.

Anyhow the odd gift or rather odd timing of a Karen gift was the multiple mini packs of Kleenex. I picked them up at the Amazon hub around one in the afternoon. Two hours later my nose is feeling weird. Strange pulling pains, and  then it started to run (Sorry for the TMI). I’m not sick. But that twingy pain. I tried to get a good look in the mirror (Nose and mouth sores are common on this treatment) And lo and behold, my nose is running because I lost a lot of my nose hairs. They have thinned out. I think I have some left, but my nostrils look awfully bare. WTH? I thought the hair on my head would go first. I now have this pack of Kleenex in my pocket.

The true test of odd hair loss will be if those eight hairs on my right leg stop growing. Yeah, you read that right. Menopause gifted me with the ability to not have to shave every day.

Today was a good day, physically and emotionally. I got up, thought, ‘wow, I feel actually pretty good’, I had a little cottage cheese and with my pack o crackers and orange juice I went to work. A coworker made homemade blueberry muffins and I had half there and half when I got home. I also had a whole sandwich a couple hours later, but I took my time eating it. I cut it in fours and nibbled over the course of a half hour or so.

Tonight might be a different tale but I really hope this is a sign I am turning a corner into feel better days ahead before next treatment.