There are a lot of things happen when you get chemotherapy, but everyone is different and it all depends on the recipe of drugs which they put into you for your particular cancer. Most people tend to think that hair loss is going to happen, and most people are told that it will. With me, that was not the case. I know that you are thinking right now that I didn’t have any hair to lose, but I did and I still do! I might be bald on the top of my head, but I shave the back and sides every day. The growth slowed down a wee bit, but not much. Similarly, I didn’t lose any hair on my arms or any other parts of my body.
I was fortunate. Many people do lose hair, and I know that this can be a particular problem for women. But when I speak to people in the chemo room, we are all happy that we are getting the treatment which will either heal us totally or extend our lives, or even just make each day a bit easier. Hair loss is a small price to pay!
One of the strange things that happens, though, is what happens towards the end of chemo or after it has ended. A friend of mine had straight hair, but now it is growing back curly. With some people, their hair comes back a different colour.
As I have said, I didn’t lose any hair, but my eyebrows have started growing much darker than the were. They were brown with traces of white, but now they are almost black. My eyelashes are the really weird things, though. They used to be very short and now they just keep growing! As you will see from the photo above, some of them are nearly three quarters of an inch long! They curl up against the lenses of my glasses, and it can often be quite difficult to read! I know that you ladies out there like long lashes and that some of you pay for them, but I cannot understand why!
Because of the way I tend to think about words, this whole thing about lashes made me think about different meanings of the word, and I started thinking about the punishment of 40 lashes which was around in biblical times. When people were sentenced to 40 lashes, they were tied to a post and lashed with a whip which had at least three strands, each weighted at the ends with stone or metal.
I always thought that they were only given only 39 lashes because getting more than 40 lashes could kill and the man giving the lashes would therefore err on the side of safety. I also thought that this was Roman law. It appears that I was wrong – the limit of 40 and the safety of 39 was actually Jewish law and is mentioned in Deuteronomy. The limit of 40 was to avoid humiliation and the punishment was administered under supervision to ensure that the prisoner didn’t die.
The Romans were different. They wouldn’t limit themselves to 39+1. Being the invading dictatorship that they were, they would often lash the prisoner to death. Horrible, but not much worse than the evil dictatorships in the world today!
So why did this come to my mind? I think at the start it was me moaning about my eye lashes stopping me being able to read. It doesn’t matter what I am going through – there will always be times when I can find something to grumble about. What a terrible punishment, but it’s not! As I said at the start of this post, women would pay to get lashes like mine! It’s just that we all like a wee moan.
But then I started thinking about the plus one bit. The sentence to lashes was sometimes referred to as 40 lashes, and sometimes it was 39 plus one. That plus one bit came up quite profoundly for me this week!
I finished my course of chemo two weeks ago. Twelve sessions over twenty five weeks. As I have said before, I had very few side effects and the doctors and staff all saw how well I had done. In my last post you will read that there was one wee blip where my blood count wasn’t good and this delayed the treatment by a week, allowing the lymphoedema to cause me problems. Because the treatment had reached the end, I was to get a CT scan so that they could decide what to do with me next. Unfortunately, one of the scanners is out of action and there is now a very long waiting list. I have still not had the scan.
On Wednesday I had my scheduled appointment with the oncologist, and I was obviously concerned with what he would say. The swelling was beginning to come back, though that was perhaps just my worrying imagination. I am glad to say that he knew there was a delay in the CT scan and that he referred to the fact that I had coped with treatment so far. He understood my concern about the oedema. He told me that I would get the plus one. I was to get another dose of chemo and he and the nurse managed to sweet talk the ward into getting me in quickly yesterday! I was so relieved!
My chemo is therefore a course of 12 plus one. It wasn’t like the 39+1 where the extra wasn’t administered, though. I got the extra. And I am feeling well today. Obviously getting 12+1 is a bit risky. Chemo damages cells. It is targeted at bad cancer cells but it can also damage the good ones. Just do the sum too. 12+1=13 and 13 is an unlucky number. Or so they say.
But I don’t believe in luck – good or bad. I believe in a God who looks after me. If I am meant to have a 13th dose, he will arrange it. If I am to get the CT scan or a 14th dose, he will sort that too! I am also certain that he will stop my eyelashes becoming a tripping hazard.
So back to the start. I have 40 very long eyelashes for sale. They are £1 each, but if you buy 39, you get one free. Anyone interested?