Day +7 - The Trough

Oh The Trough.  Nurse Emily introduced us to this concept the other day, and it has been the moniker that several medical people have used to describe the stage that my mom is in--which is feeling pretty terrible most of the time.  Depending on who you talk to The Trough could last a few more days or a week or more; no one really wants to commit to a time frame because it's so different for each person.  That, however, does not keep the patient from asking pretty much every new nurse/doctor who comes in.  She still hasn't gotten the answer she wants so my guess is she'll keep asking.

The biggest development of the day was that post-shower, I noticed my mom's hair had begun to fall out.  A few strands here and there but she immediately asked for the "image consultants" to come shave her head (I have a lot of theories about what else they do with their time, besides shaving heads).  She was fairly blase about the whole thing, I think, because:

1. She's been expecting it since the first day of chemo and was surprised it hadn't already happened.
2. She's done it before and looked pretty good with no hair.
3. This being primarily a cancer hospital, there are A LOT of people walking around with no hair.
4. Relative to everything else that's going on, this was really not a big deal.
5. She already had a hat picked out to wear (thank you Jutta!  It fits perfectly.).

Also in the news today, many more cards, emails and texts.  Thank you all!  My personal favorite was a card from Jo Wayles with some choice pictures from the past (think early 80s).  Brought smiles all around (there were others but these were the only ones cleared for public consumption).

And, in the land of Una Convery Bullock Yiaueki, today she got a taste of what it's really like to live with Ainate.  She reads, literally, all of the time.