Four Positive Side Effects from Chemotherapy

I decided to list the positive side effects of the whole chemo process, ’cause I’ve sure been complaining about all of the negatives. Believe it or not, there are some good things, too.

1. I now have the hardest, most unbreakable fingernails you’ll ever see. For some reason, the Taxol made my fingernails really strong. I can barely even clip them, and not one nail has broken in 5 months. Before chemo, I had really thin nails and they broke all the time. So I’m kind of thrilled with the whole strong nail thing I’ve got goin’, now.

2. My hair is incredibly soft. OK, it looks really strange, but it feels really soft. I had thought that by now, it would be longer, but it’s taking forever to grow out. It looks like sheeps wool, very curly in whorls around my head. My 15 year old daughter loves to rub it, and thinks its cool.

3. I actually think my eyesight might have gotten a little bit better. I’ve always been extremely nearsighted. During chemo, my eyes got weird, and my vision was often blurry. Now, 5 months post chemo, my vision appears to be clearer, and I think my far sightedness is better. Who knows, but I DO know that I don’t need to wear my glasses to watch TV anymore. On the other hand, I need my reading glasses even more…..

4. For the entire summer I was going through chemo, I never had to shave my legs once. Huge time saver, I loved that.

Hmmm….well, I thought I was going to have a whole lot more to list, but now that I’m at number 4, I’m drawing a blank. I guess there aren’t really all that many benefits to chemo!? I could go all maudlin on you and say “I’ve got a renewed sense of joy in life,” and all that jazz, but I was trying to be very tangible about physical stuff. Next time I’ll tell you about all the intangibles.

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