Guaranteed to offend some (but try to see the humor)

It all started with my complaint to the oncologist. How do I word this delicately? "Is there something you can recommend for dryness?" With the discovery that female hormones are a contributing factor to cancer growth in "female" cancers, one of the current treatments involves medications to slow or stop production of hormones. This results in menopause and all the fun symptoms that go with it, including dryness. (I'll let you figure that one out.)

"Unfortunately there's nothing medically I can give you, but I have a patient who has found a product that she feels is so helpful that she is passing the word on to other cancer patients. " At this point, the doctor pauses before continuing. "The only thing is,uhmm.....you have to get it from a porn website."

"WHAT???" I yell. "Are you joking?"
"I'm afraid not," he answers sheepishly.
But my discomfort overrides my concern about the location of the product.
"What's the name of this stuff?" I ask.
"It's called....Eros." He smiles out of embarrassment at having to say the word out loud.
I just laugh. "Of course it is."

He writes the name of the product on paper for me to take home and do with what I want. But I'm deathly afraid to access any porn site on my computer. I've just changed email accounts due to the amazing amount of disgusting spam I was receiving and I don't want to trigger anything that would cause a recurrence of that. But then, inspiration strikes.

At my former job, there were some women who occasionally liked to buy "naughty" novelty gifts as gag presents for office parties. So I called the office. "Patti, would you do me a favor and buy me something next time you go to a porn shop?" I explained the situation and what I needed. When I finished she said, "I haven't been in years but I'll take you." She assured me the store she knew of was "tasteful" and not sleazy. Yeah, right.

I protested and threatened to wear a disguise but in the end, reluctantly agreed. I also called ahead to be sure they had what I needed so we could get in and out quickly. Confusingly under the name Eros, there were quite a few options, all of which were just a befuddlement to me. The manager was very accommodating and said she'd set a variety of products under that label aside for me.

Fortunately when we arrived, we were the only ones there. Upon entrance, you must pass through some security rails which made a noise as we walked by. "Probably taking our photo," I lamented to Patti. Choosing from among the variety of Eros products took much longer than I would have liked as I tried with some difficulty to keep from seeing anything else. At last I made my purchase and dashed for the car all the while wondering, "Isn't there an easier way?"

I'm open for suggestions.

Going, going, mostly gone

If I were a dog, I’d be a hairless Chihuahua. Emphasis on hairless. On the positive side, I no longer need to shave my legs, armpits or worry about moustache hairs. On the other hand, I do miss my eyelashes (which departed last week) as well as my eyebrows. It’s getting harder to continue looking female. I actually went out and bought a pair of false eyelashes but the process of applying them was quite a bit trickier than implied on the box. When my success was limited to getting glue inside my eye causing a burning sensation, I decided to give it up as a lost cause. Now I’ve got penciled on eyebrows (like the ones I foolishly made fun of in my younger days) and eyeliner where once I had lashes in the hope of giving the illusion of feminine makeup. Not that I have the hang of it completely. On bad days when the eyeliner gets smudged, it looks like I’ve been slugged rather than made up. Aw well. Such is vanity.

I’ve now had 4 rounds - going on 5 - of chemo (3 wks on – 1 wk off) since I started again this July. A new chemo drug was added to the mix for the past 2 rounds. The breast tumor which had grown quite large and was unresponsive to the first several rounds of chemo has finally begun to shrink. In fact, it’s close to HALF the size it was! Praise the Lord!!

There’s a wonderful couple from our church who has agreed to meet with me weekly to specifically pray for my healing. They both work full time as well as have children to raise and many other responsibilities so we have felt very blessed to have been given the gift of their time and prayers. Lecia has been visualizing God holding the tumor in His hand and His warmth melting it away like an ice cube. So we’ve been praising God for answered prayer.

Other than hair loss and some neuropathy (numbness) beginning in my fingers, I’ve had mostly no side effects from the chemo. My energy is great and I am pain free so can’t ask for much more. We have lots to be thankful for. In spite of no eyelashes.