hey sharon

[FONT=”Microsoft Sans Serif”]the dry skin thing is temporary! i had it, jim had it and i remember rhonda telling me that ryan had it from his chemo– the scalp too… i used oils and lotions from head to toe for those dry months. how long did it last huh? let me think– i guess my skin returned to normal around 4 months(ish) post transplant. of course i ate well and made sure to consume plenty of essential fatty acids and a generally heathy, in my case vegetarian, diet…

perhaps you noticed that your nails were effected too? mine had a line that grew out that indicated when i received my chemo. jim too. they say that the fastest growing cells are effected most by chemo– that’s why hair falls out (hair follicles die off).

and yes, after getting sick as we had, smoking no longer made sense. you put it well when describing it as an “ingratitude.” but i have to admit, i sure do miss it sometimes… sigh… for me, other than smoking, i had lived pretty healthily, in terms of my habits. there was room for improvement, but certainly better than most– in my case i had planned to use the hospital time as a catalyst for quitting, since they didn’t offer smoking rooms on the ward…

one thing i forgot to mention was that the chemo did seem to shutdown my ovaries, hence a slightly early menopause. nothing a few bio-identical hormones couldn’t fix right up. besides, the only babies i “do” are of the K9 variety and my ovaries aren’t needed for that:o

peace–[/FONT]