March 31 Just Having Hot Flashes

The hot flashes have not abated yet - I'm still waiting for that to happen. They are different from the "power surges" that I have had before. These puppies are pretty much from the neck up - beginning with hot and red ears and then the sweaty neck and the forehead and the upper lip. Lately there have been prickly arms and lower legs. It feels a little like a niacin flush.
I keep thinking I am going to try to leave out my vitamins for a week or so to see if I am having a niacin flush! The docs did say that the flushes might improve with time. (Improve as in dissipate, not get to know how to become a better hot flash.) ; ) I'm waiting. And waiting.
I don't have much new to add except my hair is growing and growing and is quite a lot thicker (and much curlier).
I figured out a few nights ago while I was busy not sleeping (Yes, that is another side effect of the chemo that is still going on - they said something about the rest of my life, perhaps?), that the reason my hair is so thick is that it all fell out at once and so it all began growing in at the same time. So, every hair is in the same phase of the growing/resting/falling out cycle.
Now, does that mean it will all fall out at the same time? I certainly hope not! I don't know just how it will all fall (pun intended) into place, but I think it will probably just begin the same cycle, soon. The growing cycle is from 3 to 5 years, and then it rests for a few years then falls out and then begins all over again. So...what will come will be a surprise.
I have been scrubbing and scratching my head - it itches, probably because of the regrowing, and finally realized - NOT ONE HAIR IS FALLING OUT RIGHT NOW!!!!
NOT ONE!!!
Unreal.
I know this for a real true fact, because I have been pulling and tugging at my hair ever since I figured this out. I simply thought the hair was just too short to be catching in the drain and that was why I wasn't seeing any fallout! Hmmmmm!
The eyelashes are itching and falling out lots - eyebrows and eyelashes really like the eyelash 'reconditioner' that I have been using.
My eyebrows are growing on the ends of the brow where they haven't for years.
I read recently that one symptom of thyroid problems is missing ends of your eyebrows. (Not the hairs, silly, the brow!) Maybe that is what happened to me?
We are busy trying to figure out our summer. We will be heading to Seattle for Bob's dad's burial, and then later to Kansas for reunion and visiting family and friends in KC.
Let me know when you are available - Seattle and KC folks.
Sara will be swimming again this summer - she missed it all last summer. Boy, has a lot of water gone under the bridge since last summer!
My girlfriend (who got me to move to Scissor Talk which is about a mile from home) who began working with me at Great Lengths about 4 months after I moved here, is now moving to Seattle. I don't know what I will do in this town without her! I'm so sad for me and happy for her. I AM going to see her in July when I'm up there, though!
I'm hoping on doing a lot of visiting and resting and eating off my chest while doing crosswords and sudoku and watching TV while I am in KC!!
Later, gators. Love you all. Patty : ) : )

March 10 I'm Here - Just Plugging Along

We've been busy - just getting along day by day. I don't know where all the time goes! Oh my, do I sound like my mother? grandmother? great - grandmother?
Really, though - the days just fly by and not much to show for it. I'm trying, trying, trying to get my house into the clutter-free zone. I don't want Clean Sweep to come by and get into my sewing/craft/ironing room! That team makes me nervous!
I've been letting Sara try to get caught up with her homework, and therefore haven't been on the computer very much - just to quickly check email.
My 'personal assistant' Nicole, has been here a few times to help with the piles o' paper, and we are making headway. I've been shredding like mad from the filing cabinets!
My BFF Helen is moving to Seattle soon, and I'm very sad and wishing I could help her find a wonderful place to work up there. She doesn't know yet where she will be living, so that is hard.
She started working with me at Great Lengths 3 or 4 months after I began in Dec 1984, and we have been friends ever since. I won't know what to do in Tucson without her. I'll be able to visit her in Seattle, though! Yay!
Her fi-nance (as she calls him) got a job offer he couldn't refuse, and will be beginning work next week. He will be overseeing a sales team for a new computer software his son has 'invented' and is now marketing.
I'm now trying to decide if I want to take over her larger, more spacious, maybe cooler and more expensive rental station. I will be inheriting some of her clients (some of whom she inherited from ME when I left with little baby Sara!) and so I will be busier and that will make up the extra $ for the rent, but I'm not sure if I can go the distance. I seem to be more tired than I realize, most of the time. I'll just have to suck it up, eh?
Sleep is still an issue - I'm trying to not take any sleeping aids any more than I have to (that would be None At All), to see if that might make me less groggy during the day. So far, all I have learned, is that I want more sleep in the mornings.
Bob's Aunt Elaine Mosman is down here from Seattle area, and we're going out to eat at Buddy's tonight, so must go. Going to have me some Lavosh! MMMMM Love all of you, lots. Patty : )