Just an update...and a mohawk.

I just broke a blood vessel in my eye. Weird. I walked downstairs to talk to my daughter and she said, mom, your eye, and I could feel the vessel breaking. I could feel the blood pooling in the corner. It stung. I looked at it and it bulges a little. I worry what I have done, what caused it, do I need to call the doctor? Its just a broken blood vessel, right? No big deal? I hate this stuff, I hate trying to figure out if it is after hours doctor worthy. I mean, you don’t want to call the doctor for every minor little thing, but which is the big and which is the small?? As I type, I have one eye closed. I’m just a little scared but I’m sure its going to be okay.

I was actually feeling quite a bit better today. I took myself to the store, which is such a simple thing, but if you haven’t been able to drive yourself for weeks, just the small act of going to the store to buy some toothpaste can make your day. So, I drove myself to the store and back, big outing for Patty!! My left foot went numb yesterday, which was very weird because most of my symptoms have been on the right side, so when I woke up yesterday and I wiggled my toes and it felt like they had just received a shot of Novocain I thought to myself, now that is very unusual. As the day progressed, the numbness spread to the ball of my foot, so now in addition to the weakness and general joint pain on the right side, my left toes and ball of my left foot feel like they just went to the dentist. I talked to Dr. Geiver about it today, and he said we would take a “wait and see” stance and not worry about it unless it gets worse. So we wait.

I also ended up with a Mohawk today. Talk about weird. When I took my shower there was a lot of hair on the floor of the shower so I rubbed my head really good to get all the spare hair out, I mean its gonna fall out anyway, why not just speed up the process. So, when I thought I had all gotten all the hair out that I was going to have, I got out of the shower and looked in the mirror and I have an almost perfect Mohawk. Crap. I spoke to the tech today when I got radiation and he said this is very normal. It would be nice if someone had told me that BEFORE it happened. My head is radiated from each side. Even though they are getting the center portion of my brain the radiation is skimming under the hair follicles in the center of my scalp, so the hair fell out on the sides, but won’t on the very top. Apparently, this is very typical of whole brain radiation. I guess it just would have been nice to know I was going to end up with a Mohawk before it happened…might have caused a little less stress. After it happened, I went and got my daughter, and she wrapped me in a good hug…then laughed at me. I guess that puts it all in perspective. After all, its only hair.

So, I plug along. Every day a new adventure, a new opportunity to see what strange side affect might occur, what crazy revelation might be bestowed upon me. I have to say. Life is not boring. Nope. Its not.

PS – I did call the doctor after hours. He said that sometimes broken blood vessels in the eye just happen during brain radiation. They don’t know why. No cause for alarm unless there is serious pain associated with it or loss of vision. Neither of which I have. He recommended a cold compress and to rest my eye. So, all is well. Off to bed.