So here's the short of it,
Just musings on another day. 

And here's the long

Today was radiation treatment number 21 of 36.  I'm developing a rash on the center of my chest at the top of the radiation field.  It's visible if I'm wearing a button up shirt with the collar button open.  So far it's not hurting or itching very badly, and it's the worst place I have so far.  I'm very thankful that I'm doing so well.

My hair is beginning to come back.  I have eyebrows, and a downy growth on my head that's probably  an eighth of an inch or so long.  I'm beginning to notice my body hair slowly returning.  My knuckles now have a soft down returning, and I can see the beginnings of hair on my arms.  It's also coming back, although somewhat less abundantly, on my legs.  I would never have really thought of myself as having much facial hair before the chemotherapy, but when it was all completely gone, I could tell, and I can see that beginning to come back as well. 

My neuropathy is about the same.  My fingers may be a little better, but I don't have the fine motor control that I had before.  I also don't have a good temperature guage in my fingers.  It still catches me by surprise sometimes when I get into the shower that the water I held my hand under to check for temperature is hotter or colder than I thought it would be.  You'd think that by now I'd remember to check the temperature with my arm, but I don't always.  My fingers were never really awful, but my feet are still pretty bad.  I do so look forward to them continuing to get better.  I can't really go barefoot anymore - which is pretty dismal for me. If I'm barefoot, it seems that I bump my toes and feet into things and it hurts!  But my biggest problem seems to be going down steps. I guess the lack of feeling in my feet is preventing me from using the muscles in the way that I did before.  Sometimes they feel like a block of wood or like I can't completely control them.  I know that some people continue to have improvement for a long time after chemotherapy, and I'm counting on that! 

I saw my first cousin Marcia Judge this morning for the first time in several years.  She came home to Knoxville to visit her Mom, my Aunt Joyce, and they made a detour through Chattanooga on the way back to Nashville for her flight, and Mom made us a nice lunch. She is now living in Colorado and working for Compassion which is a Christian Child Advocacy ministry.  She had volunteered for Compassion for many years, and after going back to school and completing her college a few years ago, she took a leap of faith and moved to Colorado Springs where Compassion is headquartered.  And in a true example of answered prayer, or as Oprah would say manifesting one's dreams, she began to work for Compassion.   I haven't heard the story about how she came to get a job with them, but she is really happy and living out her desires.  It was good to have a visit with her.  She will be going on a Compassion Tour to India in February and will get to meet the 13 year old girl that she has sponsored for several years.  I know she's very excited about that trip.