#6 Coming Up - Henna - 1 Rare Taxotere Side Effect -

Katrina has become quite the Henna artist.  We started out trying it to make semi-permanent eyebrows, but it didn't work well.  So, since we had all the Henna, Katrina learned all  about Henna Tattoos.  Here are a couple of pictures of the head tattoo that she designed and hand drew for me - thanks Katrina - I love it!!!!!!!

I came across this great book at chemochicks.com called "Turning Heads:  Portraits of Grace, Inspiration and Possibilities" (this is also the website that gave us the idea for henna head tattoos).  The book is written and compiled by a cancer survivor-here is an excerpt from the publishers - "Hats and head scarves are nowhere to be seen in these portraits of women who have lost their hair during treatment for cancer. Each picture, taken by a well-known photographer, captures bald women too intent on work or play to be bashful about their looks—among others, Melissa Etheridge belts out a Janis Joplin tune at the 2005 Grammys, a rodeo cowgirl poses with the cowboys, a surfer climbs a wave in Hawaii......  "  It's beautiful, with the portrait of each woman they offer a glimpse in to their cancer journey, in the back the photographers talk about the women they photographed.

Of all the books on cancer that I've read since my journey began, I have to say, this is at the top of the list.  It offers hope and inspiration, and takes away some of the fears that you experience when you are diagnosed with cancer.  I believe that every cancer center should give this book to newly diagnosed women with the packet you get.  This book is available through the Douglas County Library System, and Juliana was able to find me my own copy on Amazon, a used copy (you can't tell it's used) for under $10.  If you know someone that was newly diagnosed or are yourself dealing with cancer this is a must read!!! 

A little on one, not so fun, Taxotere Side Effect.  

Taxotere is an anti-cancer ("antineoplastic" or "cytotoxic") chemotherapy drug. Taxotere is classified as a "plant alkaloid," a "taxane" and an "antimicrotubule agent."  It is made from the bark of the Pacific Yew.  It kills cancer cells  - Yippee!!! It is also the drug that upsets your intestines, makes you lose your hair, lowers your blood counts, causes mouth sores - these are the common side effects.  It also has some less common side effects.

They body rids itself of the of the chemo drugs in many different ways, one way is through the tear duct system, some of the drug (toxin) is in your tears and drains out through the tear ducts.  Because it's an irritant, in 2-3% of women it causes irritation and swelling to the tear duct (punctal stenosis).  When your tear duct swells closed you have over tearing, headaches, distorted vision, very tired eyes, possibly permanent scarring ...  I'm one of the lucky (?) 2-3%. 

What does that mean to your daily life - it looks like your snorkeling, most of the time, and the rest of the time everything is just blurry; it's hard to focus, so driving, looking at the computer screen, reading, for more than a few minutes, if you can actually see well enough to do this, causes your eyes to tear excessively and run down your face (people think you are crying); it is exhausting to the eyes; and it causes headaches. At this point I'm basically unable to work or drive, so I have to find someone to drive me to all of my appointments.  Of all the side effects of the treatments this and the fatigue have been the most frustrating.

There are blessings though - Juliana, Teresa, Katrina, and Rick have been wonderful about rearranging their schedules to get me to where I need to go - thank you so much.  I've had dozens of other offers for rides (all of my friends and family are truly a blessing).  I'm also lucky to have a job that offers me disability pay.  Thank you Jim Mix for teaching me to touch type, that way I can type with my eyes closed!  Still need a proofreader, but at least I can type it myself. 

How is this treated - first they dilated and irrigated my tear ducts, then tried 2 rounds of steroid eye drops to see if that would decrease the swelling in the ducts, this works in 98% of women with this issue.  But apparently I'm in the 2% of the 2% of women that this didn't work for (doesn't it seem like if I'm that lucky I should be able to win the lottery?).  The next step is to have temporary stents placed in my tear ducts, that is scheduled for the end of September.  Even though I will be done with my taxotere by then it takes several months for your body to heal, and they want the stents in place to hold the tear ducts open while they heal, that way they won't have to put in permanent stents up the road (hopefully). 

This is teaching me, even more so, to put it all in God's hands.  He seems to be telling me to stop being such a control freak, not easy for me, but I'm getting better!

Thank you for all of the prayers and support!

God Bless you all,

Linda