Repetition, Recognition, and Limitations

Part of being a cancer patient, especially with a lot of recurrence, you get sort of used to doing things again, and again, and again, and again. Tests, exams, blood work, doctor appointments, arguing w/ the insurance company, surgeries, radiation, hearing bad news, hearing decent news, hearing hopeful news, repeating said news to family, figuring out the best way to repeat news to friends. Stop. Repeat.

Maybe that's why repeating other life events just seems... natural... to me now. I'm repeating the Bar exam, I'm repeating my job search... I've been comparing my life to limbo a lot, but now that I think about it... it's a lot more like repeat. Now I'm sure it can't stay like this... but for right now, I'm getting to so everything again.

While I started Bar prep classes again yesterday... its actually the job interview I had yesterday that sort of set off this particular post. I wasn't planning on applying for any jobs right now. My classes are at night, the Bar is at the end of February. Obviously, I'm going to spend most every waking minute cramming. So the idea of working isn't particularly high on my list of objectives right now. But then a friend of mine said someone told him about a position working for a congressman, and he wanted to pass my resume along, and it just sounded really cool. And so, I took on my 7th ( I think) interview.

I mean it had it's downfalls... no pay... a year long commitment... really bad pay. But it was a step in the door for something I would be interested in doing. So I went to the interview, she liked me, said I was way overqualified for the job, then asked if I really thought I could juggle studying for the bar and working full time. A recent lawyer herself... I had to be honest... as much as I wanted the job it meant risking another failure, and she understood completely. I would basically be a glorified secretary for a year... it was a step forward but a massive leap back. She also knew that it would be a buffer position for me. Something I would just want to do to fill in until I got my license. She basically said all the things I've considered when looking for in between jobs. And once we got that out in the air, we just chatted like new friends comparing our lives and just... talking.

Mom, in her ever supportive role, reacted by telling me how she worked full time, while raising me, pulling 16 credits, and a 3.8 GPA and still found time to study somewhere in between. I hate, hate, hate, hate, when she compares her life to mine. I appreciate that it was hard for her... I was there... There's about 50 million perfectly true responses I could make to her but choose not to. And even now, it sounds a little too contemptuous to write out. So I'm just going to say I know it was hard for her... but it was a significantly different situation. She went on to even be like, "I wonder if I was a good mother then," and "I wonder how we kept it together then." My response was, " I wasn't a heathen wild teenager." Which basically meant I took care of myself, the house, and kept things working. It wasn't particularly hard... sort of just came naturally to be very prudent and responsible because I could easily see things going all to hell if I wasn't. A remarkably common theme when looking at how I've dealt with the whole cancer bit.

Sorry, I'm sort of pointlessly rambling here. Basically I just don't think she ever looked at the things I was doing to keep things going. Just like now she doesn't look at what I'm dealing with; she only knows how to see what she's doing or has done.

So... I don't want to say I didn't get the job. I think if I had committed she would have taken me in a heartbeat... But I was honest. I was actually honest about what I thought my limitations were. A first for me. And so we agreed that come March, when I'm done w/ the Bar, I'm to give her a call and see if anything is open.

I think for the first time in my life I am afraid to see where my limitations actually are. I've spent a lot of time pushing myself to the limits. Taking on too much work. Trying to do too much in life. And it's been absolutely fantastic. But I'm afraid that right now, if I push it and cross the line... I'll be stuck here forever. This is new to me. Even before cancer, I tried to push what I could handle (of course in a responsible and prudent over-achiever manner... not a crazy partier sense). Threats to my physical life sort of magnified that attitude. But now... its my long-term life that's threatened.

Am I growing up? Am I just growing tired? Is this just a phase? I don't know... but I know its what I need to do.

Post-Interview debriefing

I wasn't going to post again, but I had to.

The interview was fantastic, really,... and all I want to do is go home, curl up in a ball, and cry.

How f*kd up is that?

There was a panel of 8 people. It was kind of like a Chinese fire drill meets Monty Python's Spanish inquisition. They questioned my travels, why I was interested in defense work, etc. Poked fun at me for knowing the cops in the city. Sold me on how awesome working there would be, and how great of an experience it is. Then as I left the berated me with information and tips for passing the Bar. I don't remember the last time I slipped so easily into stride w/ a group of people. But they are basically all my friends transposed into new bodies. People interested in public interest work aren't your usual lawyers. They were all in late 20's early 30's (more or less). I was comfortable, and could see being happy, though poor, there.

So, why am I sitting in a library choking back the urge to cry?

First thought, what if I don't get the job? That would suck. I almost didn't want to like the interview so that if I didn't get the job I wouldn't be disappointed.

Second thought, if I got it, would I be settling? Its a safe job. Near home, could commute if I really wanted to save some cash. Its a very relaxed job (sort of)... would I get too comfortable doing something that comes easy to me? Is the safe job the way to go? Safe, reasonable, prudent, practical... always the way I deal with things.

Am I giving up on an international job search? Is practicality winning out?

What is it that I even want anymore? When did I stop aiming for my dreams, and instead started looking for things that were safe and practical?

I don't know.

Strategizing for a job interview when you have cancer

I'm taking a mini-break from my endless bar prep, to stress for tomorrow's upcoming event. A job interview.

I feel like this is one of the biggest areas where young adult cancer survivors are more or less totally screwed. My doctor never gave me any advice or pamphlets on how to handle getting your first real job. There are discrimination laws and things, but really, from a practical standpoint how much do they really help?

From a rational employer's perspective, I wouldn't want to hire someone with cancer. Especially someone still getting treatments, or with positive cancer markers. I wouldn't want an employee who needed to take off every few months for tests; who has a consistent history of having to have surgeries and radiation. They may be great candidates, but really... why would I want to hire someone like that? And even more so, why hire someone like that who is just starting out? Who has no real experience? I mean, back in the day people w/ disabilities did great things all the time, in today's world, do you really think FDR in his wheelchair could be president, or Churchill and his alcoholism?

So this is the laundry list of things I've replayed a dozen or so million times in my head when it comes to interviews.

1. Do I hide the fact I have cancer, simply neglect to point it out, or sort of throw it right up front in the lime light?

I throw it right on my resume. Granted its at the bottom, and it's subtle, but I write on there that I am a member of Thyca: the Thyroid Cancer Survivor Association. I do this for a handful of reasons, but mainly b/c I've decided, if an employer looks at that and decides not to hire me, well then I don't really want to work for them anyways. For the others, I look to use it as a talking point in interviews. Let me tell you about how I've been fighting cancer while at the same time completing both law and grad school at the same time.

I've found, a lot more people are touched by thyroid cancer than you would think. Or it can be a way to relate to people. If I can turn it into a strength and not a weakness.

2. I can't hide my scar

I have about a 6 inch scare that runs across the center of my neck. Most people don't notice b/c its so big. I find interviewers are judging you in every way, especially how you look and present yourself. I've had one person look at my resume and then tell me they see my scar. It threw me off, and it sort of shook me up. I think I can deal with that now. Human curiosity looks for these things.

3. I have gaps and hiccups in my resume

For all of the awesome things that I have done while dealing with cancer, the unfortunate fact is, being sick has had it's costs as far as my professional life goes. 1st thing that a prospective employer will notice is that my GPA is low. My first year of law school, I was in and out of testing, had 2 surgeries, recurrance, a paralyzed vocal cord, and started hypo hell during finals. If i could have, I would have taken the year off. I get so angry at myself when I blame cancer for my grades; but since first year i believe i've pulled a 3.7 GPA between the two schools. So about a 3.5, 3.6 in law school. I have no idea how to tell that to someone. I did once, during an interview for a research assistant position, but I was comfortable with him, and everyone in law school talks. But he asked me how on earth I could get a 2.4 one year and then the next semester a 3.9.

2nd thing they notice, is that on my list of activities, I was never on a legal journal. In case you haven't noticed already, I like to write. I'm confident enough to say that I'm pretty good at it. And I love doing research. If you don't make it onto a journal your first year via your grades, then you are able to write-on at the end of each year. Well... first year=neck dissection, second= low iodine diet/radiation, third= dossimetry. This is the first spring where I didn't go into finals either going hypo, or pumped full of thyrogen. So, sitting and writing under those conditions. I could have done it. Maybe I was just lazy. At least thats how it looks on a resume.

3rd thing they notice is that I didn't work the summer after my first year. Again, neck dissection and radiation. I was out. I don't remember that summer. It still totally freaks me out.

And 4th, I didn't work at a firm. I chose far more awesome, less practical jobs. And I went where they offered me money too. I worked in Cambodia and Germany. Anyone can work in a firm; I actually like living my life.

4. So you're in remission, right?

This question blows. It's automatically assumed if I've got hair, 2 degrees, and am in an interview, clearly I must be in remission. Nevermind, that technically, they can't ask me that. Not legally, but what lawyers ever pay attention to that. I mention the hair thing b/c its assumed that cancer=chemo=no hair, remission=hair. But my irritation isn't why I dislike the question. The answer is.

I'm not exactly in remission. I'm in freak limbo. I don't want to lie. I don't want to go into the long drawn out explanation of why it doesn't matter. What it comes down to is that they want to know if I'm functional enough to work. Which I am. No matter what their preconceived notion of what having cancer means. But its also true I'll need time off to do testing. I'm not in the clear, technically. Most jobs you can glaze over this fact. I of course want to work for the government, or other physically demanding jobs, that require background checks and medical reports. *If you are someone performing a check on me, I am perfectly functional for working in any condition... my doctor said so!

So on top of the normal stress of graduating and trying to find my first job; trying to find a job in one of the worst economic crisis to hit the US in a while; the first to hit the lawyer job market; and not to mention just normal interview jitters, I'm consumed by trying to figure out how to give explanations about my past, and be convincing that I don't really have issues that would be detrimental in the future. I feel like it requires a certain level of self confidence and certainty that I'm afraid I just haven't been feeling lately.

Oh, and I could really, really, really, use something big to go my way right now.

Do I look funny?

So, I'm having one of those really just bizarre days, but in a good way... That is until I decided on today's post topic. It all started when I was eating lunch, and suddenly, this fox walks up to me. Now I don't live in the country. I'm in the middle of Virginia Beach, on Regent University's campus, eating a sandwich in between my bar prep class and sitting in the library. And then there was a fox. He kinda just looked at me, I looked at him, and then he just trotted away into some bushes.

So then I was listening to the Stupid Cancer Show. If you don't know, its a blog radio show, that I'm sure I'll have a whole post dedicated to at some point. Its very good; Monday nights 9pm eastern. If you go on, there's a live chat room, I go by robs723 and enjoy talking to people. Anywho, tonight's episode was all about sex and cancer, and I somehow managed to win a book by asking a question.

Now my question kind of got cut in two thanks to how much I could type in the chat box, so it got answered sort of awkwardly. But basically, it was how do you talk to a partner about how to be touched. The first part of the question that got lost described how I have no feeling from under my left ear and the left underside of my chin, through my left shoulder, and down into my chest. Nerve damage from a neck dissection. It screwed up everything from my golf game to how I like to be touched intimately. It kind of gives me the willies to have a light caress in that area that I can't really feel, or worse, a hard one that feels like pins and needles. Can you tell a guy not to touch you there... how do you get over how that feels? Can they tell that something is wrong? Do they get upset if you don't respond quite right? That was what I meant to be my full question.

So then it started me thinking about how I've looked since surgery. How one of my eyes squints more than the other when I smile. In general how the left side of my face, at least to me seems to hang ever so slightly. I wonder if my left arm or shoulder does the same. And so I got to wondering... "Do I look funny; awkward; a little off?" I'm pretty sure in my mind it is all exaggerated a little bit more; but I go through pictures and I see little differences, and see images of me where I just look weird. I mean maybe that's why I can't seem to find a guy to date; maybe they all look at me and see the weird and off balanced features that I see?

Little pet anxieties, and insecurities. And it isn't something anyone can make you feel better about. If they say they don't see what you are talking about, they are just trying to be nice and reassuring; if they actually don't see it, it's because they aren't used to looking at your face all the time, or didn't know you before. These are the thoughts that run through our minds and leave us in a perpetual circle of insecurity. I wish I could give you all some magic advice about how to overcome the thoughts; but I can't. I struggle with them to an obsessive point, cry about them at night, if I'm having a particularly sensitive day, and then blog when I can't think of any other way to get them out of my head.

How much have you wanted to make things about you?

First, let me apologize to people w/ questions, that i haven't gotten back to immediately. I just, this morning, finished my last ever law school exam. My brain is totally fried. And really, emotionally, I am completely spent.

I needed a hug tonight, but couldn't ask for it. It wasn't for being done w/ law school... though, in a lot of ways i've been in shock about that. The hug need ties back with Wednesday. I finally got to my doctor. It was just a check-up, and tune-up, before i move. But it also meant me saying... "there's something behind my ear... its pressing on a pressure point"... which in reality is driving me damn near insane... I mean, it is in between where the jaw connects just under the ear... that fucking hurts if you stick a marble sized lump there.

My doctor's reaction, after feeling my neck once, and not noticing it, was, "wow, yeah, there is a lymph node there."... Before I say anything... I want to say that I love my newest doctor. He is straight forward with me, and tells me directly what he thinks is going on. From a smart person standpoint this is awesome. From someone who just wants to be told everything is ok... I kinda want to throw large solid objects at him.

So being told that yes my cancer markers are positive, and something small but not big showed up on both the ultrasound and MRI, and that i need to wait... well the desire to throw something at him really comes through.

But then there is the new lump. And he acknowledged its presence. He expressed how he didn't think it was thyroid cancer b/c of its location. Right side, under ear. My cancer has always been on the left. No TC ever goes under the ear. I'm not sure to be happy about this, or cursing it. It could be something different... not just thyroid cancer... something new. It is in fact terrifying.

I had a nightmare the other night about getting chemo. I felt the needle in my arm near my right elbow. And i felt the pain and numbness as the chemicals seeped into my system. Imagination is a dangerous thing.

There are people out there, who may never read this, that I need to thank. Michael for listening to my crazy rants about dreams and whats happened. Heather, for always being there if I really need her. And Eric... I feel like I have to type this, b/c you might not ever know it in person. You were the first and only to know that things went bad recently. You didn't feel a need to hug me... and just told me it sucked... and that, that is what i needed. I needed tonight... out w/ people I know, but not really. It's easier to pretend everything is close to normal, and this year is really just an end to law school, and not everything else. I will probably never tell you all that happened this year, and how much being friends with you has been a way to vent, and to passive aggressively take out my feelings on the world. Thank you... you may not realize you've done anything at all, and I can't quite seem to pinpoint in words how it is you were there, but you were... thanks.

Something I wrote back in 2007 that I randomly found on my hardrive

So I found the below ranting on my hard drive... amazing how the same feelings keep popping up again and again over the years.



Sometimes things just suck more than anyone can possibly begin to imagine. I ask you if you know what it is like to have every inch of your body and soul ache as if at any moment it will just give out from the wear and tear. When emotions and experience hurt physically. Not so much depression as a realization that too many things are wrong to be righted. That there is so much you can’t change you no longer have control over your life. And the more you try to control the larger the hole you fall into. When so many things have gone astray that your goals seemed blurred. Where you long for the opportunity to be torn between an ambitious career and life with a happy family because now both options have been torn from you in the most callous of manners. How you wish for a second in time there would be someone that could honestly tell you that it would be ok. Someone to sincerely hold you, someone who actually cares beyond just a friend. It’s the point you get to when you wonder if life would be better if you had just lived it the way you wanted to… pursued your dreams… pushing it to its fullest extent and then dying young, or if fighting for life, subjecting yourself to millions of tests, days of worry, never being able to truly be free to do what you want again, yet living a “full” life into old age…. But really, what kind of quality of life is that??? I don’t know what the point of what I’m trying to do means anymore, especially if I can’t pursue that life. I’ve lost my best friend b/c I dared to go to a level more than friendship… now he won’t talk to me. He was the only thing that really kept giving me hope for something more. And now I’m more alone than I have ever been. I have no dreams that can be achieved. I have no hopes. I have no motivation. I’m just waiting around… waiting for the next blood test to come back, the next scan to be performed, the next phone call confirming the next appointment, the next interview that will never come and a real world that can only shun someone such as myself. And I don’t know how to make any of it better besides more waiting and watching as the world passes me by.

"I think I'm paranoid..." -Garbage

I think this is a side-effect of being told every single year that I have cancer still, usually after being told things are looking good. I’ve made very forced effort not to feel my neck anymore because inevitably, there is something always there to bother me. Actually this is incredibly true as I have a lymph node chain on the left side of my neck, just behind, and running parallel to my scar. There are about 3-5 lymph nodes that I can feel, and sometimes even see, especially when I get sick. But today’s paranoia is stemming from a newer lump, and even more disturbing is that it is on the right side. It lies just under my right ear, in that spot where there’s a gap between where your jaw and neck connect. I noticed it about a month ago, then I got sick, then I got better, and its still there.

Its probably just a swollen gland, maybe a blocked salivary gland, or a response to my allergies. For normal people, these are all reasonable things to conclude, and just let it go. For cancer patients, I think finding a lump has a very distinctive fear, or annoyance tied in. You don’t want to be paranoid. After a while, you become so tired of the tests, that you wonder if it would just be easier to let it go.

But there are other issues; it’s a lump in odd place. Even if I went in, the doctors are only looking for nodes in my thyroid bed, and focus on the left side. Asking them to probe a new area is like asking a little kid to eat a second helping of veggies. Then they argue, “that’s not where thyroid cancer is,” and your like, “what if its not thyroid cancer, there’s a lump there, I swear, you can feel it, its been there a while.”

And going along with that, I wonder how people deal with just random lumps when they don’t have thyroid cancer. Who do you turn to? How do the radiologists know what to look for? Why don’t they use that same level of diligence and searching when they handle all patients, just in case, a new bump is something different? In real world stats, getting one cancer doesn’t mean the likelihood goes down for getting another.

I think that sums it up. I’m paranoid. Have little ability to accept that I’m “fine”. And well… there’s another fucking lump on my neck where there shouldn’t be one.

Human pin cushion

As per usual... I'm waiting and I'm scarred. It's my favorite week of February. The week where i get poked and prodded, and find out if I'm still cancer free. I've decided that needles fuck with me. I don't really mind them so much, I'm fine with the physical part of being poked. But what sucks is that I'm not so great about thinking about it. It started Friday; blood work for a pregnancy test. Couldn't just pee on a stick, no, for the testing I'm doing they actually needed a serum... Tomorrow is the first injection of thyrogen, followed by a second one on Tuesday, then blood work on wed. and more blood work on Friday followed by an ultrasound and potential biopsy, and then i see my doctor on Monday for the results... Human Pin Cushion.

Thyrogen... side effects: nausea, headaches, etc... basically, even if I handled this stuff half as well as i did in the beginning, the side effects alone would mean I'm not going to be a shiny happy person. It's also one of those things you can't take when your preggers... hence the blood work pregnancy test, nor do you wanna get knocked up within 6 months afterwords... not that I would, but I dislike having my options taken away

I hate ultrasounds... its my least favorite part about being sick. I would rather just be cut open or radiated... its irrational, but its the truth.

I'm tired. And I'm tired of having to deal with this stuff. It wears on you. Tares you down bit by bit. I don't have hope... I don't hope that things will go well this time... its too crushing when it doesn't... I just wait... start planning... be prepared for the worst... have the back up plan. Its harder this year. I'm about to graduate school... I'm supposed to be making plans and back up plans for my regular life... having to create back up plans in case I'm sick... ha... sigh...

Back to being tired... I realize I'm doing a lot... I do a lot so i don't have enough time to sit and think too much... I rationalized if I'm too busy to deal with being sick, clearly I can't get sick... I discovered this time last year that was not how the real world actually likes to work.

But being tired started over break. I thought maybe it was just that i needed the rest. But I'm still sleeping... if I don't make myself get up, I sleep for at least 12 hours... all the time. I go to bed earlier than i ever have... EVER. and i keep gaining weight. They kept dropping my meds... I'm afraid they've dropped too low. I'm going to ask if they will put me on a T3, T4 regiment. I hear that using both helps with things like mood. Doctors tend to only treat what they see is necessary and skip what makes the brain happy... a hippie hypnotist told me this. Yes, I went to see a Hypnotist... He hit more nerves than your normal head shrink does in the first 5 minutes of talking.... and that was before he tried to hypnotize me... it was just something to try. But so I started reading up, and decided I really haven't felt normal in 4 years.

oh yeah... that's the other head fuck. Next Monday is 4 years. 4 years since i got a phone call congratulating me about getting in the the University of Richmond School of law... the first law school i got into... followed by 3 hours later getting a call telling me the biopsy had come back "suspicious"... It was he first realization i had cancer. So no pressure this week at all. I'm not worried to the point of being unfocused. I'm not panicking. Irrationally planning. Or snapping at people b/c they can't quite deal with their personal problems at all. *sarcasm* Oh yeah, I don't deal well with compassion anymore. People and their personal problems should just shove it if they made other commitments. People who use their shit as excuses, can kiss my ass if they really think they're going to get compassion out of me, or level their workload on me to pick up their slack. We all have issues. You get as much slack as I would expect, and part of growing up is knowing when you are more of a problem than a help in a project or to a team, and sucking it up and pulling out if you can't juggle accordingly.

Sigh... I was so much stronger than this 4 years ago. I wish nothing phased me... the way it did then.... now i border between numb and more tightly wound than anyone on the planet.

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M LETTING SOMEONE CUT MY FACE IN A FEW SHORT HOURS!

Preemptive fear

So my eye surgery is going to be on Wednesday. And what I wouldn't tell anyone around me is that as usual, it scares the begeebees out of me. That's right, 3 surgeries in 4 years and they still scare the begeebees out of me. First there's the superficial fears about how the surgery will go. What if it doesn't work? What if I'm stuck in a state of teary eyes for the rest of my life? What if the scar doesn't heal right? How much is this going to age me? What if i can't cover it up? I'm going to be a freak scar faced individual.

Well then maybe I'm overreacting to the whole thing. Maybe i don't really need surgery. Maybe this really is bearable. But then again I was at an advisory board meeting yesterday and trying to schmooze and talk to board members, powerful people who want to do things like, take my resume, and b/c of a combination of walking there in the cold, and throwing on enough make-up to hide that I'm in the middle of exam season, my eyes were basically balling excessively, and the only excuse to fall back on was contact problems... an incredibly bold faced lie, but one i use so often, that sometimes I even say it when I'm wearing my glasses.

Then next logical question is whether or not I'm doing enough. I'm only getting my right eye done, but the left eye has been getting worse... I don't want to do this twice. Sure it isn't as bad as the right eye, but there's still big gopy tears that stream down from it from time to time. So it isn't blocked? You still call a plumber when you you have a slow drain b/c you know eventually the water just isn't going to go down.

There's the irrational fears too. More along the what if side of things. What if something goes wrong during surgery? What if I have a bad reaction to the anestetic? My mom is allergic to anesthesia. What if i can't bounce back right away? Every time i do surgery i feel like a part of my brain dies... i feel forgetful... Thought its probably just in my head (pun not intended).

All of this is frustrating. I was stupid to schedule this now... but when else would i do it? really? Side effects suck. I just want to get back as close to normal, or where i should be, than before the cancer came and started screwing around with my life. These little, seemingly insignificant side effects, really aren't that at all. They are inconvenient annoyances. Permanent reminders of what has happened. And often it is the smallest of these things that is the straw that will break the camel's back.

I'm not particularly smart or talented or motivated at anything. And in that way, I have a lot of normal things working against me, the same obstacles as every other normal person. Its times like now where I feel like the only people that should get cancer (not that anyone should get cancer) should be people a lot stronger than someone like me. Someone that has more going for them so that they can make this their big challenge to overcome. Because if you are just sort of all around mediocre to begin with, how can you really do well? I'm babbling... so I'll stop now.

Touch

I have no feeling on the left side under my chin... going down from there i feel only tingles into my upper chest and shoulder....

I wish i could say that the only numbness i felt was physical... but I have stopped feeling a lot of things. When I was first diagnosed, my surgeon (*note not doctor) was worried that I didn't cry. She thought I probably needed a drink and to watch the saddest movie I could think of. It's unnatural to not cry over cancer... surgery... and radiation... particularly the first round...

4 years later and my indifference towards things has only expanded into my non health life... be it my indifference to school... or even love... the last few weeks had been crap... then last week was awesome... lots of great stuff happened... and i had no reaction... null... i even got back the results that said it looks like no more cancer... instead of happiness... i felt cautious.... caution with everything... I have a problem: I don't think that I can really feel happy about anything... b/c it never seems to last... hard to explain... but you know... 4 years... keep being told its ok... but then not... it has its effects

Bad Hair Day

Two weeks ago some fabulous bastard in Russia somehow or another managed to use an ATM to take all my money in my bank account. Since then I've realized I'm a bit on the poor side right now... and certain things, I just can't afford anymore and I need to figure out what I can live without... This leads to the question of whether I can live without my hair.

Its not that drastic of a leap. It starts off that i have naturally super curly hair, afro curly hair. Its so big, and fluffy and well just looks weird on me. So, last summer I got it straightened... permanently... well not entirely permanent... as I have to redo it every so often... and in here lies the rub... in the US, this costs a little over $400... poor people do not do well with things that cost over $400... so then you need to start looking for alternatives... in my case i can cut it all off, start over, regrow it curly starting short, donate my hair to cancer kids. Or i can perm it, and hope it doesn't look weird as the curl comes in. And so i sit and i pull my fingers through my hair, something i could never do curly.

Then with each stroke, and ruffle there's another reminder of why neither of these might really be an option. Its falling out. A lot of it is falling out. It has been since the last round of radiation, but its gotten a lot worse in the last month. We aren't talking a few strands... we're talking i have to unclog my tub after every single shower. I comb my hair and a handful of *wet* hair comes out... a handful of wet hair is a lot of hair. So then as I sat on the couch and hair just falls around me. I can't get it to stop. i just ran my hand through one more time, casually, 4 strand come out. i have a lot of hair, its not like I'm going bald... but i can see where its getting thinner... and I can't help but wonder how long it can keep falling out. straight or curly, long or short... I'm known for my hair... its sort of my identity. If this stupid cancer takes it away from me... its a change i don't have control over, its a change in my identity that i don't control. Metaphor for my life? Quite possibly.

So what causes the hair to fall out? the side effects of radioactive iodine are worse 2-3 months after dosing. Its been 4 months. Hypothyroidism makes hair fall out. So that would imply that my meds are off. Which is what i think... and almost hope for. It would explain the tiredness, the depression, the mental slowdown, the writers block, the inability to focus and read, to get the thoughts from my brain to my mouth, the weight gain etc. etc. etc.

And other alternatives... the other what ifs... i'm still waiting... waiting for my blood work to come in, waiting for the news of the cancer still being there. Then what, electronic beam therapy? Chemo? Well doesn't that just leave my hair shit out of luck, eh?

Its my one true vanity. Maybe in that sense it needs to be taken away from me. Truly humble me. Right... b/c I wasn't ready to give up all my material aspirations to go join the peace corps for life 4 years ago... oh wait, no, that's right, it was Americorps first... I was clearly so self centered in my need to devote myself to helping others that taking away everything in a few steps is exactly the best way to crush that sort of spirit. Sorry. I'm teetering into another topic plaguing my brain. Guess for now I'll just watch my hair fall out and sit and wait just that much longer for whatever it is that's coming next.