So I had gotten through my first round of chemo not too bad off. Five days of no poop, being tired, losing my hair, but recovering well. The second round was upon me. I had a chemo treatment every three weeks, so it was time to hit up the chemo room, get poked in the chest through my port and take on the second round. The drugs were the same, and given the same. I sat there with my mom watching days of our lives. This time there was another couple in the room and not that I was trying to listen but I heard that they were from the same town as me, so I said something to my mom and we started talking to them and found out that they did live in the same town and were neighbors of another friend from highschool who also was diagnosed with lymphoma. The man had lymphoma too and was getting chemotherapy as well. I thought how strange it was that all three of us from a relatively small town were diagnosed with lymphoma within weeks of each other.

Many people were surprised to see someone my age there getting treatment, but what sucks about cancer is that it doesn’t care who you are or how old you are.

That chemo came and went, but when I had my check up with my doctor I had lost ten pounds! This is not the way to lose weight. He was worried that I had lost too much and wanted me to eat more. No time to worry about calories, just eat. Add cheese to whatever and try to get more calories in. I had thought I lost some because I went for walk with my dad and looked at my legs that used to be pretty muscular and they looked pretty weeny. I must have lost muscle mass. I was eating healthier for sure but losing 10 pounds in 3 weeks when you are 5 feet 2 inches is not good, especially when you are on chemo! My job in between the second and third chemo was to put on some weight! That is different I thought, most of the time we are trying to lose or at least not gain weight. The second chemo was similar to the first, the constipation, no nausea or vomiting again, so that was great! being tired and getting a headache from that dang cytoxan. I mentioned that it bugged my sinuses when It went in, so the nurse tried making it go slower but it still bugged me. At least it didn’t last too long after I got unplugged from the chemo.

My hair was fully gone by this point, which was ok. It sure made getting ready easier and I eventually lost all my eyelashes too. I wasn’t prepared for that to happen and that was strange to have no eyelashes. My wig pictured below was ok. Apparently I have a small head so the wigs didn’t fit me that great and this one reminded me of barbie hair. Real thick and shiny, so I was super self conscious about it and wore hats with it all the time. Some people may have thought I was trying to make a fashion statement. It is funny how worried I was about people knowing I was bald. I think now I wouldn’t really care. Hopefully that is something I won’t have to test. My second chemo was given in February of 1997. From the beginning I was told I would probably need four chemotherapy treatments and then localized radiation due to the bulky size of my tumor. luckily that dang tumor was gone and I couldn’t feel it and it wasn’t hurting anymore. It was just weird feeling under my arm with the incision and it was numb, but it didn’t hurt and it wasn’t leaking anymore. That made me happy because I knew the treatment was killing that cancer!

Ding Ding! Round 2 of chemo!