Feelin' Peachy

My aunt and grandparents are visiting from DC for the Thanksgiving holiday. This morning I was sitting with my grandmother as she was telling me about the screenplay that she’s been working on. It’s a love story part of which takes place in the Middle East. As she delved into plot details, I had trouble focusing on what she was saying, however, this time I don’t think it was the Chemo Brain. As she described beautiful scene, all I could think about was Iranian food, Iranian food, Iranian food! You see, the last few days I’ve been on a drug called Dexamethasone (sounds deadly, doesn’t it? I can just see my doctors standing over me proclaiming “My name is Dexamethasone, you killed my father, prepare to die!”) Anyway, one of the side effects of these dangerous pills is “overeating that may lead to significant weight gain.” Besides that, my roommate’s mom just made me this huge delicious pot of lentils, which I have been religiously consuming day and night. Despite being on low doses of this medication, mere overeating does not describe my recent behavior. I have been gorging myself with everything in sight. As I chew, food is falling from my mouth left and right. My stomach is an echoing bottomless pit, and the scale must be broken because there is no way that I’ve gained six pounds in three days.

Other than that, my head has been acting pretty funky lately. Instead of growing stubble, it’s been sprouting this strange fuzz which weirdly enough reminds me of peaches, James and the Giant Peach, and peach cobbler. Yummm. I’m pretty concerned about it though. What if my hair never grows back? What if it grows too fast? What if it gets moldy?

I’m going to the hospital tomorrow and I’m not looking forward to it. I have a follow up chemo treatment but it shouldn’t take too long. All I can really think about though is going to my favorite vegan restaurant, The Chicago Diner, and stuffing my face with a humongous veggie burger the size of my head.