Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

My hair started falling out last Tuesday. While driving home from the library I scratched my head at a stoplight and came away with wolfman fingers. Ironically I had just made an appointment for a haircut, which I had to cancel.
 
It doesn’t take long to go from alopecia areata to alopecia totalis. Over the next [...]

Chemo Farts

While not mentioned often in the literature and blogs I’ve read, fetid fumes are a byproduct of cancer treatment. Not surprising, since one of my chemo drugs is Cyclophosphamide, a derivative of mustard gas.
 
The foul odor of normal flatus mainly results from:

low molecular weight fatty acids such as butyric acid (rancid butter smell);
reduced sulfur [...]

Is Cancer Evil?

No, cancer is not evil. It is many terrible things but it is not evil in the traditional sense of the word because it lacks moral premeditation. Evil is usually defined as “the quality of being morally bad or wrong.” Evil requires a moral agent behind the action.
 
Evil does exist, as both presidential candidates recently [...]

Sunday Funnies

I have warm childhood memories of reading the Sunday funnies: Blonde & Dagwood, B. C., Andy Capp, Herman and their ilk. I don’t find today’s lineup very humorous. There are more laughs on the typical op ed page than in the comics.
 
I still enjoy great cartoons and have collected some gems over the years. Here [...]

Grounded

My white blood count (WBC) registered low in my recent blood test so I’m grounded for a few days. No meeting friends at restaurants. No church or grocery shopping this weekend. No wedding tomorrow night. Too many germs about for someone in my state of caducity.
The normal range for a WBC is from 3.5 to [...]

Bill Thomas

I’ve been fairly active since seeing a physical therapist to learn what I can and can’t do. Basically as long as my hemoglobin count stays above 9, I can exercise with moderation. Monday I did the treadmill for 15 minutes. Yesterday I ran half my normal route without a problem. Today I mowed the lawn. [...]

Health In Motion

Americans are obsessed with health: health clubs, health foods, health care. Good health is at the core of our individual and national self image. Our fittest citizens are even now in China trying to prove we are in better shape than everyone else.
But what does it mean to be healthy? Clotaire Rapaille, author of The [...]

Lint

Cancer is serious business but not everything about it is life threatening. Here’s some of the lint that’s collected on my filter the past few weeks:
 

I’ve lost my taste for coffee, a habit I’ve cultivated my entire adult life. And I just got a french press for my birthday.
I’m no longer interested in the occasional [...]