I guess it was inevitable, but somewhat of a surprise. The chemo I’m getting is not supposed to cause a total hair loss, but possibly some thinning. Since the first cycle I have noticed that my hair has stopped growing. It is hard to say if the hair on my head is not growing, but areas I normally shave do not need a lot of attention anymore, so I suppose that is the same for the hair on my head. When I washed my hair on Saturday I sadly noticed a substantial amount more hair coming off my head than usual. It felt like never ending handfuls the whole day. I was not expecting that. I do have a lot to lose, so it is definitely not very noticeable – but today I can see that my braid is thinner than normal. Hair grows back, but I of course feel bad about how it might turn out in the end. Hopefully it doesn’t continue with the same rate as yesterday. Can’t do much else than wait and see and possibly dig into my hat collection.

Anyway. Yesterday I was low in energy and had more than one nap on the couch. I think I had not been good at drinking enough water the day before. Today however I have had lots of water and energy and – drum roll please – I have cleaned the house – tadaaa! And made dinner. How about that! Due to our need for social distancing we unfortunately cannot have Martha coming over to clean the house – and houses do not clean themselves. So while James and Benjamin sorted out a messy garage and installed a water barrier in the garage door – I put on an audiobook and rolled up my sleeves. Amazingly enough and quite surprising – I actually enjoyed it. I’m not quite done and have some left for tomorrow – but I also have several hours left of my audiobook. Good to have a goal for tomorrow.

Yesterday while I was resting Benjamin and James had a busy day. Due to the state wide lockdown we were one day late with getting a new dishwasher installed. I suppose dishwasher delivery and installation are not counted as essential at the moment, so no dishwasher and no installer person showed up. Poor James had to drive all the way to Escondido to pick up the last dishwasher of the type we wanted that was left in the whole North County – and James and Benjamin had to install it. While doing the installation we decided to also change out the garbage disposal that was very ready to be changed out. Today James and Benjamin are happy about my suggestion to change it – not so happy yesterday.

James – reluctantly – had to take several trips to various stores yesterday and expected much more deserted roads and stores. To his astonishment lots of people were out and about. Several stores were open. I don’t think mattresses and leather furniture are counted as essential – but that’s just me I guess. He was very surprised that people seemed to be a bit oblivious to the fact that we should stay home. At WalMart the staff were notoriously disinfecting carts and handles, but at Home Depot it was business as usual with no sanitizer or disinfection evident. 

We are at least doing what we can to stay safe – and now we have a new and working dishwasher, a new and working garbage disposal, a better water barrier by the garage door, a cleaner house  – and some less hair.