Today is the milestone I’ve been waiting for – six weeks since my last round of chemo! Yeah!!! This is how long Dr. Cancer told me to wait before resuming my pre-chemo diet and habits, like drinking caffeine and taking vitamins. I’m particularly excited about broadening my choice of what kind of tea to drink. At coffee shops I’ve pretty much been limited to chamomile since that’s the only thing most shops have that is not caffeinated or green. (In case you’re wondering: I was not allowed to drink green tea because it has antioxidants, which encourage healthy cell growth. Chemo is trying to kill cell growth. No healthy things like that for chemo people!)

As I re-read my milestones posting from shortly after my final round of chemo, I have to pause to be grateful. My taste buds are completely back to normal, much sooner than I anticipated; my perpetually runny nose finally stopped running a few weeks ago; my mouth is no longer dry and slimy. Those were definitely the most annoying of the more minor side effects and I’m so glad they’re gone.

In fact for the most part, with the exception of my recent weirder side effects, I feel pretty much back to normal. I’m still holding out for the Big Milestone though: there has so far been no regrowth of my hair. I scrutinize my scalp every day, trying to decide, has that stubble gotten longer? Thicker? But so far I’ve detected nothing. I did have a vivid dream recently that I had a nice thick 1/4″ growth of peach fuzz up there, but it was gone by the time I woke up.