For some weird reason, my hair all fell out and then began growing back again. For a while I shaved it off but then I left it. It’s white and soft like baby hair and now about 2cm long. It’s very sparse so you can still see my scalp very easily but even so… it’s hair. The even weirder thing is that everywhere else my hair has gone and isn’t growing back. I haven’t shaved my legs for months. Yay for that. I’ve alway done things differently to everyone else ha ha.

I usually spend 3.5 seconds doing my makeup but my personal assistant (daughter) has kindly made it her duty to prepare me for the public eye when it comes to special events.

In this case it was an engagement party. As you can see (above), she did a pretty good job of the eyebrows, although according to her (and me) one eye brow is just plain odd. It’s quite challenging even for her to get it right. Today Sophie glued fake eyelashes on me even though I’m not supposed to wear them due to the particularly frail state my skin is in from the chemo. Then came the wig. Voila!

So off I went to the party, trying desperately not to blink furiously and/or to wipe my eyebrows or eyeliner off while navigating the way in the car for the MOTH. My wig was in my eye so I flicked it furiously out of the way so I could see the GPS instructions. Oops. I soon discovered that my eye lashes were glued to my wig. Now I had one corner of the eyelash hanging off and no idea how to fix it.

A quick SMS to Sophie resolved it. It all seems so simple when she says it like that…

 

 

I’ve been microchipped

Last week we stayed at Rosebud for a break and for 2 of the days I had an art retreat by myself. On the Tuesday, however, we had to drive back to Maroondah so I could have a titanium chip put into the tumour (providing they could find it). After much hoo ha with the ultrasound, they found the tumour and eventually put the chip into the middle of it. Now when they do surgery, they will be able to find the area to remove.

I can’t run away now because they have a remote control to bring me back to base. Just kidding.

If you want to read about the tagging there is a short article here: http://www.auntminnie.com/index.aspx?sec=ser&sub=def&pag=dis&ItemID=101026

The radiographer also found two swollen lymph nodes under the arm and in the breast. I’ll find out more on Tuesday when I start the new chemo treatment and see the doctor. Hopefully I’ll discover the size of the tumour (which is too small to be ‘felt’) and what’s going on with the lymph nodes. Hopefully the nodes are just another weird thing to add to my list.

I’ve been feeling pretty good this last week. Running on the treadmill at the Rosebud resort and with running group today and not needing nanna naps for the past 5 days.  I created so much artwork in Rosebud I almost couldn’t find my way to the bed at night for the mess. Loving it!

Swinburne investigation

My lovely friend Elaine is pioneering an investigation into the number of women from Swinburne who have or who have had breast cancer… possibly any cancer at all. It isn’t a witch hunt, but an investigation to see if there are links. Elaine has medical background and has made contact with the right people, composed documents and permission forms etc. So if anyone out there would like information please let me know. Elaine is doing this out of the goodness of her heart and I just want to thank her on behalf of all of us who are too distracted to do it ourselves. Bless her cotton socks!