Round Two: Then and Now

Day 5 - July 12, 2014

I was extremely glad I went to the concert last night.  Who doesn't love reggae, and it did succeed in getting my mind off my face and not feeling well.  Staying busy with other things is really important. Luckily the lights at the venue were red so I blended right in.  The AC was cranked and the cool air felt soothing on my face.  I didn't wear any makeup, except for eye liner and mascara.  This AM I noticed that there is a huge difference in my skin from day 5 of this 2nd round vs day 5 of my initial treatment three years ago. 

I'm putting plenty of medication on and even getting into my eyebrows and the edges of my lips this time because I could feel the rough skin, which is the manifestation of the precancerous cells, in those areas.  I realize it is probably really going to suck, but treatment with fluorouracil is really going to suck anyway, so I might as well get it now rather than have to deal with needles and stuff later.  Why am I not looking as bad as last time?  My doctor told me during my appointment that he didn't expect this round to be as severe as last time.  When I reread my blog from three years ago, I noticed that he had mentioned doing a lighter dose in the future, but that he actually prescribed the same therapy this time as last time. I also noticed something else, when I looked back at my blog this morning my day 5 photo from this treatment looks nowhere near as red or inflamed.  My day 4 photos look more similar.  In my blog entry from day 5, 2011 I mentioned that I had put on make up for a photo shoot at a wedding on the 4th night, then on day 5 I was considerably more red.  I'm relieved that I chose not to wear makeup last night.  Its not for certain, but it does seem that perhaps the makeup made things much worse.  I'll pass on testing that theory.

I'm starting to develop an aversion to spicy food and hot food (temperature wise) in general.  In the first few days of my treatment I made sure to get those in, so I should be good for the next few weeks.  Normally I drink coffee every morning and love spicy food.  The past two mornings I chose to skip my coffee, I just can't stand the idea of anything hot near my face or lips. 

My headache has been gone today, which is a huge relief. Today I still felt a little nauseous, but its nothing I can't handle.  Getting out of the house now as much as possible, before it gets bad has been a priority.  Today I had a great lunch out with tons of sweet tea, which tasted so wonderful, cool and soothing.  Later I went to a movie, in which the theater had the AC cranked and it was nice and dark.  I got the chills really bad between the two and felt totally exhausted.  After a nap buried under many blankets and I felt much better.  I've been getting spells where I feel very cold every afternoon.  No one else is feeling cold though, it seems to come a couple of hours after applying the fluorouracil. 

Yesterday I bought one of those EOS lip balms , it feels WONDERFUL!!