Lots of bald-headedness!

Wow, my friends rock. This morning 3 of my friends, Farookh, Simon and Eugene (pictured at left), went down to Acme Barbershop and asked to get their heads shaved -- on purpose! They did this in support of me, and I think that's just plain awesome. In fact, they managed to pull off some pretty sexy new looks in the process. I'll post a picture of me later showing my new bald head as well, but don't expect anything sexy like these guys. Especially since mine will be in a hospital robe, bleh.

Speaking of hospitals, I'm still in the hospital but we've managed to get a handle on my fever so I might be going home as soon as tomorrow. Hooray! The biggest fear for me is that I won't be able to get 3 meals a day down at home, since I am still suffering from mouth ulcers, and also because it's hard to keep simple foods down due to my messed up intestinal tract. At the hospital I am on this fancy TPN (total parenteral nutrition) IV drip that supplies me with 2,500 calories per day of protein, lipids (fats), vitamins and minerals, basically I don't need to eat solid food at all. It's been a total life-saver since while I was recovering at home last week I would stress out at each meal just trying to figure out what to eat and how to keep it down. Lately I haven't had to worry about that which has been a huge relief, though I have been trying to eat a little bit of food each day so that I can ease myself back into solid foods, even though it's a bit of a struggle.

The other issue is that they've discovered some liver problems, including jaundice (my eyes are slightly yellow), all of which are likely a result of the high-dose chemotherapy. Hopefully this is something that goes away by itself, but they're monitoring it closely to see what happens next. Kind of a bummer to start having problems in a separate part of my body, but liver issues aren't totally unexpected. It could also have been caused by the anti-cholesterol drugs I was taking during the chemo, which was part of a clinical study that showed that taking this particular drug helped give patients a better response to the chemotherapy, even for people that don't have high cholesterol. But the dose I had to take was pretty high (16 pills a day) and so I basically ended up taking a 45-day supply of cholesterol drugs in just 3 days. But the doctors are good and are on top of things, and hopefully it will just go away by itself.

Also, I was blown away by all the comments you guys have been posting recently. I've been feeling pretty down the last few days and all your comments have really helped cheer me up. Thanks! I have some future blog posts lined up to answer some of your questions too :)

Here are some pictures of the fun my friends head while getting their heads shaved :)

Simon, looking a little like Dr. Evil


Eugene -- Russian mobster look?


Farookh, sporting that Neel Kashkari look. Very smart and sexy.


Too much fun! You guys rock!