Adding Insult to Injury

Two words . . . abrupt menopause. That's right, one more fabulous side effect to add to the list. Can I just say that one more time? It rolls off the tongue so nicely - abrupt menopause. At least a dozen times a day now, I have these intense hot flashes. Being completely bald currently, I have an image of my head being like a light bulb - white hot and glowing as if someone has switched it on. There's no warning, and seemingly no particular thing that brings it on. But suddenly, it feels as if a room full of people could read by the light of my head. Either that or I've just gotten one heck of a good idea!

The particular type of cancer cells that invaded my body have hormone receptors. This is actually a good thing. They now have drugs that attach specifically to those hormone receptors - so they target the cancer cells directly. As swell as this is, it does bring about menopause. There's no easing into it - you are just there! I receive that drug along with the old tried and true chemo that shreds everything in it's path. There is a third drug in there that attacks all fast growing cells. Cancer cells are crazy, fast growing cells. Unfortunately, so are skin cells, blood cells, hair follicle's, your digestive tract, and your sinus passages. Hence the runny nose, general barfiness, baldness, anemia and fatigue, and on the bright side, surprisingly soft skin. It's like having a head-to-toe exfoliating mask on! Your skin is always playing catch-up and replacing the old with new soft stuff. If I could somehow bottle just that side effect, I could make a gazillion dollars here in Hollywood, where all the celebs would pay big bucks for really soft skin!

Did I say hot flashes? I must now revise that to normal flashes. The hot flashes are so frequent, they outnumber the times when I am a normal temperature. My oldest son walked into the kitchen today and caught me with my head in the freezer. I'm pretty sure he is convinced that I've gone round the bend. My daughter, who walked in moments later, and ever the pragmatist exclaimed "You're wasting cold air! But while you're in there, could you get me a popsicle?" She's going to do just fine in this world.