Team DeAnne

As the third week of this surreal time draws to a close, I’ve transitioned from my old style of “defy and deny” to being a bird of different plummage. 

This last round of chemo ( #2, aka the 6.4 mile stretch) actually went better than the first, physically.  The Adriamycin pretty much got peed out before I even left the hospital, the Cytoxan didn’t cause as much spots behind the eyes, and I wasn’t as tired for as long.  My big complaints are all cosmetic ones.  But the important thing was that I still had time and energy to hang out with my brother and his wife furing their visit.  For three days I couldn’t taste anything, and I tell you, veggies are gah-ROhhhhs when they have no taste.  That was troubling, because we all know that nothing gets between DeAnne and her food! 

On Thursday I thought the dreaded nausea was setting in at last.  But as it turned out, I’d eaten a huge amount of pizza that had an Alfredo suace instead of marinara on it.  Dairy has never done me well, chemo or not.  I was so excited to have an appetite that I snarfed that pizza down, not tasting it too well, until my brother’s pretty little wife said, “Don’t you just love that white sauce instead of the usual red sauce?!”  Gulp!  But even then, my nausea was food induced, not medicine, and was better in a day.  And now I happily am tasting food again!  Hooray! 

And I couldn’t run, because my foot has a wierd bruise on the heel from too much slow running, so I decided to take two weeks off and work out in the pool, alternating swimming with pool running, which is what works for injured elite marathoners and race horses, so why not for me?!  Because, I WAS HAVING A BAD HAIR WEEK!!!  (That’s why.) 

Indeed, it was excruciatingly boring, and disheartening to not be able to run and thus pretend to be healthy.  (Like I said, the whole defy and deny thing was not working for me this week.)

On Monday, as I swam my final lap, I felt good!  As is my tradition, I pulled up to the wall of the pool, and tore my swim cap off…and a bunch of hair.  EWWWWW!!!  The people at the pool were very sweet.  I explained that yes, I’m in the midst of cancer treatment, and that suddenly the hair is giving me grief.  The woman in the lane next to me said her best friend just went through that a year ago, and we all had a good laugh as we gathered up the hair.  “Should you be in the pool?  Shouldn’t you be resting?!” 

“No!  My goal is to sweat these medicines out ASAP!”

“You go, Girl!”

I love compassionate people!  I need them like I need air!  I send my gratitude out to the Universe that there are so many lovely and compassionate people in Sebastopol, who are shocked by nothing.   They rock my world!

The next day, I decided to ride my bike.  It’s a great little red mountain bike, slower than a 7-year itch on the roads.  But I figured that this would be safe for my bruised heel and for the hair.  I roared off on the West County Trail at lunchtime, all the way out to Forestville.  The acacias were full of fragrant, fuzzy yellow blossoms, bringing back happy memories from childhood.  The world seems to be just a riot of flowers and happy people, basking in 10 minutes of sun …quick!  before the next little rain shower!  I thundered up to the stoplight, waited to cross, and as I pushed away from the curb,  the wind blew my hair from my head in little tufts.  Aw, crap!  People in cars gaped, sort of like the people in the pool.  All I could do was go faster.  So I put my nose in the air and did just that.  What would Lance Arsmstrong do, if caught on a bike with hair dispersing to the wind?!  Just that?  Maybe?  Nose in the air, and ride like hell, as if there are bigger things than dealing with stupid hair.  Yeah!

Now, I have metamorphosed into my “Noble Savage” look. 

After Jenny saw my hair on Thursday, we went wig shopping, and I got a darling auburn bob.  I also have a long, curly reddish one, that’s a little bit Biker Momma looking.  And Aunt Mindy sent me a hilarious green wig for Saint Patrick’s Day, and I still have the Marie Antionette wig from Jenny.  

Noble Savage, or Bird of Different Plummage.  Trying to embrace the experience!!!

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.