Side Effects

The side effects from Sherry’s chemo and radiation therapies have been moderate.  The classic puffy cheek steroid look is reasonably apparent; the hair loss is obvious.  

As I understand it the radiation kills the hair follicles where the beams go in and where the beams come out.  The result is an interesting patchwork of thin hair and bare scalp.  New constellations of freckles have become visible, and await discovery and naming.  Shampooing has also changed from the rigorous scalp massage that Sherry loves to a gentler process.  I fill my cupped left hand with an extravagant pool of shampoo, close the bottle one handed, then invert my shampoo filled palm on the crown of Sherry’s bowed head.  As the cool shampoo begins to spread and is warmed by the heat from Sherry’s head, I begin to move my left hand in a soft, gentle, ever expanding circle soon joined by my right hand.  Slowly Sherry’s head is covered with smooth creamy lather and the shower stall fills with the enticingly unique baby shampoo smell.  After the rinse of warm water from the hand held shower head carries the last of the abundant lather down the drain, I can then get to work on the constellations, and on carefully inspecting Sherry’s scalp for any skin damage.  The radiation is also hard on skin, and I discover a small patch that looks like a sunburn. It will get some skin repair lotion after Sherry pats her head dry with a thick terry cloth bath towel.  

The cognitive dissonance is not as readily discerned.    Copying numbers from her address book to envelopes is difficult for Sherry to do accurately, as is writing appointments in her calendar.  Some confusion results from short term memory loss.  We don’t know if these changes are a side effect from the steroids, other medications, radiation, chemo, or are a result of the tumors themselves.  We are watching closely as Sherry’s dosage of steroids is decreased, hoping that Sherry’s sharp as a tack cognition will return.  As I write I hear Sherry doing exercises on her piano.  While scales and drills aren’t the most interesting music to hear, I am an appreciative audience.  She is integrating her left hand functioning. Playing the piano, even two handed mirror exercises, is a benchmark that seemed exceedingly lofty just weeks ago.  Seeing this change encourages us about the cognition.  

The good news is that Sherry is Sherry.  There is nothing more that I could ask for.