Most of the side effects of my radiation treatments are invisible, and can be hard to explain to people, like the taste impairment, where nothing tastes like it should. The inside of my mouth constantly tastes like I’ve been gargling with seawater. Nothing tastes like it should. Some things have no taste at all, and some things just taste bad. Some things start out tasting okay and get to tasting bad as I eat them.
The non-stop exhaustion isn’t as hard to explain, but unless you’ve experienced something like it, you still can’t get a complete sense of it. At first it was just hitting the wall in the mid- to late-afternoon. Now it’s nearly all-pervasive. I’m tired to the bone all the time.
The visible side effects are fewer. The right side of my neck is red, and I have a rash over there. But the most visible one is the hair loss. I’m sportin’ a helluva fade. Supposedly, it will never grow back. If that’s true, I’m really bummed, as that’s the end of my beard as I know it. The bottom part might be workable, but I think the moustache is screwed. And the moustache is actually the main reason I wear a beard, since I have no appreciable upper lip, and the distance from my nose to my upper lip is vast and needs something to break it up.
My hubby has a fascination with his facial hair although I don’t think he looks good with it. Must be a guy thing LOL.
Now the space between upper lip and nose. Get a pouty upper lip injection or I’ve even seen removable lip implants.
All joking aside I hope the rash subsides, the hair grows back and mostly your sense of taste returns.
I’ve had a beard of some kind since college – I don’t think I look right without it. My girlfriend actually seems to think I look younger without it, go figure.
Thanks for the continued support!