Le Monde de Fromage de Kate

Okay – it’s not ALL ABOUT SARAH’S HAIR; I’m not obsessed. However, I feel that there is something to the idea that all the changes to that crazy head of hair do, in some very small way, symbolize her journey this past couple of years. And like I said yesterday:

But somehow, it’s as though one can admire the wonderment of healing and nature through something that most people take for granted – the seemingly mundane – the tresses of a young lady. And a wonderful young lady she is.

No mincing words here; I’m a geek. I just quoted MYSELF, and, what’s more, it was something I wrote YESTERDAY. Ugh.

Let’s go back to Sarah instead. It’s possible I may have already mentioned this: She has had what they define as a “complete response” to chemo and radiation. She tolerated the chemo very well (considering that’s on the scale of how WRETCHED it can make you feel). And the Hazmat Emergency Responders only had to come and evacuate everyone ONCE, and it wasn’t Sarah’s fault (I do love the irony that it takes a suited-up Hazmat crew to clean up fluid that they are INJECTING INTO THE BODIES OF CHILDREN).

After she finished her rounds of chemo, Sarah opted to have her broviac catheter removed (I think she really, REALLY wanted to shower ALL AT ONCE). And after chemo her hair started growing in earnest – in CRAZY, wild, swift earnest (until a stalk reached the sky and Jack climbed up it, and there was a GIANT – wait, that’s a different story). The effects of each radiation treatment made her feel progressively worse as they went along, but it was over soon enough to be bearable. Moreover, during THAT time she didn’t have to have anyone ask if she’d “flushed” that day (heparinized her line and injected saline into it). She was also able to go off the cortisone (that accompanies chemo and all its meds) and start to lose the resultant “moon face.”

I may not have mentioned before (and should have) that Sarah’s last set of scans looked great. She still has some extra lymphatic tissue, but the doctors seem quite certain that it’s just, essentially, scare tissue. Her Hodgkin’s Lymphoma was of the “bulky” variety. That means that tumor cells can actually inhabit a “framework” of non-cancerous cells (making already large tumors even more pronounced). The tumors are gone, but some of that “framework” has remained as a kind of residual scarring. At least that’s how I understand it.

I still cannot get over seeing some of her initial scans. The tremendous extent to which the largest tumor was pushing her trachea out of line was appalling. I honestly don’t know how she breathed and sang and spoke as well as she did. To say she was a trooper is an understatement of gargantuan proportions.

And NOW, don’t you think we should put the follicular journey in PICTURES?

As you probably know, click on an image to see a bigger version. And it’s TRUE (and obvious); I do not know how to make a pretty “gallery.” Please notice, though, that I made each and every thumbnail the same WIDTH. And it is an interesting mosaic…

Sarah Writes a Missive to Her Man
Amidst the Detritus (lovin’ that word) of Her Birthday Party