haircut

I got a haircut yesterday. This is the first haircut I have had in 6 months, and it was literally "a hair" cut. Monica trimmed off one or two hairs just to smooth it out. It's still pretty thin although it seems to be filling in lately, and there are a lot of white hairs in the mix. I am hoping that these white hairs will eventually go away but I don't know if that will be the case. Take care. -Eric

update

The past week or two I have started to get body pains. The pain is primarily in my shoulders and neck and up into my head. I also have pain in my legs. They feel like muscle pains, as if I had pulled a muscle doing something. We don't know if these pains are related to the drugs, or the cancer, or something else altogether. Right now the doctor just wants us to keep an eye it and let him know if it gets worse. A couple of advil now and then seem to keep the pains tolerable. I have scheduled a massage for next week to see if that will help.

Picture

This picture is a couple of months old. I'm the good looking one. -Eric

Update

The maintenance drugs are much easier handle. There haven't been any side affects that I have noticed. It's been a week since I had the first dose of maintenance drugs and I am feeling pretty good. I am getting my energy back, and I am much more active now than I have been in the last 5 months. I was out in the yard doing some yardwork the last two days and my whole body is sore. I think my inacitivity over the past 5 months has taken a toll. I need to get out and rebuild the muscle mass that I have lost and get some exercise. I get tired pretty quickly and the shortness of breath limits how ambitious I can get, I have to pace myself.
The hair on my head is getting longer, however it's very soft and thin. It's not as it was. I am considering shaving it off again until it's ready to come in more fully. The hair on the rest of my body has not started growing back yet.
The doctors appointments will slow down for now. I don't have to go in for regular bloodwork or checkups. I only have to go in once every three weeks for more maintenance drugs. We're hoping we can stay on this regime for a long time to come. Take care. -Eric

good news/bad news

I received a call from the receptionist at the oncologists office yesterday. She said that the CT scan showed no new cancer growth. That's all the information she had at the time. I'll talk to the doctor and see the scan results on Monday so I'll have more information then. No new growth is good. This is the good news.
The bad news. I think my hair is falling out again. Bummer. This puts me at a slight disadvantage for the hair growing contest, we may have to change the rules:)
I'm going in on Monday for my first round of maintenance chemo, should be shorter, and they promised no side affects.

Life is good. Take care. -Eric

Nose Hair

My nose hair trimmer has received a well deserved rest over the past couple of months since loosing my hair. But now that my hair is coming back I need to dust it off and put it back it work. There's mixed blessings with new hair growth:)
Thursday I go in for another CT scan to see where the last chemo dose left me before we go into maintenance mode. I have high hopes that the results will be promising. I've taken to chanting "Die cancer die" repeatedly. That will work right? It certainly can't hurt:)
It's tough to bring up the topic of prognosis while talking to the doctor. I know what the prognosis is, and the doctor knows what it is, so everyone just seems to avoid the topic. But I did bring it up again the other day. I told the doctor "I need another 50 years, can you do that for me"? The response was, "This may not be a good time to start negotiating". Who's negotiating, I'm just setting the expectations:)
I've considered asking the doctor about his money back guarantee policy, just in case he doesn't cure me, maybe next time:) -Take care. -Eric

Hair growing contest

Some of my friends and the hair growing contest. This is day 7. It's going to be tight race.