Quote for October

A Prayer for the Ephesians Eph. 3:14-21

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.


Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!


Thursday, August 29, 2013

What Octreotide Does to Hair



My hair is like dryer lint. 

You know, that fuzz that you take out of the lint trap after a load of laundry is finished.  That is how I have thought of my hair for the last year. This week I have a revised comparison: my hair is like dust bunnies. I spotted one-a dust bunny- underneath the wooden bench at the foot of our bed. (We have a tile floor.) That gives a better visual--there is some hair in there, but it is surrounded with fuzz. 

All because of Octreotide. Now you should know that my hair is naturally wavy and coarse. Without calming influences applied as soon as possible after washing, my hair might resemble a bush. However, after shooting up Octreotide since December 2008, it hangs there more limply than a bush would; more like dryer lint. The texture of a single hair is fuzzy. 

I also have less hair than 6 years ago, but I doubt the loss is totally from Octreotide. Part of my hair loss is genetic. I think my Mom had a little receding hairline at the temples, but not much. It is her father who was bald. Is it true you inherit your hair loss from your maternal grandfather? I also lost 3x as much hair as usual in February and March last year due to stress, but it mostly grew back. My generally thin hair, I have decided, is due to Octreotide. (There is some data to back this up.)

Every several days when I wash my hair I have been working on this monologue. (Those of us with falling-out hair wash it less frequently.) How does one make dust bunnies on her head look like hair? I thought I had it figured out until two weeks ago when the curled hair on my head returned to dust bunnies in only 4 hours. That means members of the public got to witness strands that had looked like hair returning to dryer lint. 

Therefore, this Sunday I mounted a full frontal assault. I used one product to spray on wet wavy hair to reduce frizziness. Dry hair was curled with a curling iron. This actually straightens my hair, but it is what makes my hair actually LOOK like hair. I have been informed that it smooths the hair's cuticle. Cream was applied to reduce frizziness and coax out some curl. To me this looks fine, but I know it won't last, so I enveloped my head in a cloud of noxious gas called hair spray. (Don't worry, Diana, I have washed it all out so that I can come see you tomorrow.) 

I am glad to report that at the end of the day my hair still looked like someone had curled it in the morning. It was droopy, but it still looked like hair. Success!

Are ya'll finding that Octreotide has affected your hair?

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Moving slowly in August 2013

For two or three weeks, I have not gotten much done. I made the comparison of how I feel to  having measuring cups full of energy. I need 5 cups full of energy to do the things I normally do, but I have been getting only 2 or 3 cups of energy per day; so I have to choose what to do.

On Monday I went to have lunch with fellow retired teachers that I began working with in 1999. Several of them retired 5 or 6 years ago. We had a wonderful time catching up on recent news. My husband and daughter went with me, and we took our scrapbook of pictures from France. It was a lovely time.

On Thursday I cooked dinner using some chicken and vegetables that were already in the refrigerator. I stir-fried the food and it was delicious. I was very tired with aching legs afterwards. Friday I walked our beagle. On many of these days I also washed 1-3 loads of laundry. It's a quiet life, and I don't get much accomplished. Grrr.

I would like to garden. Our house needs cleaning. I have been trimming our very large day lilies and an iris by cutting away 1/3 of each plant at a time. That takes about 20 minutes. I did some gardening Tuesday and ran out of energy quickly.

That's how things are going. I have decided to ask my oncologist to do an Octreoscan when I have a regular appointment with him September 4th. Today is August 24th, and I have been weak since July 7th, so I think we should check to see if any tumors have gotten larger. It has been at least a year since an Octreoscan was done.

Thank you for your concern. God bless you all.

Sharon