My hair has regrown curly. I have had straight hair my entire life, so this was initially a bit of a shock but it is now a novelty as I enjoy the look on friends' faces as they see me for the first time since HSCT.
As I have never had curly hair before, knowing how to care for it and style it properly is proving very problematic. A quick Internet search suggested that the curly regrowth was probably a phenomenon known as 'chemo curl'. Chemo curl affects some people who have undergone chemotherapy due to the hair growing cells being affected by the chemo, and resulting in different hair texture and sometimes different colour. The curls typically last for between 6 to 12 months after treatment.
We visited a friend recently who was concerned that the chemo curls may be the result of mistransplanted stem cells from a black man. If this was the case, I was not too bothered as friends have commented that I now have great moves on the dance floor (more on this later), as even when I was well my dancing was not a pretty sight. As well as that, I have heard rumours that black men are very well endowed .. So if the mistransplant theory is correct, there's hope yet ;-)
So other than the curliness of my hair, what has happened since my last update?
The gym regime has continued. Vineetha and the girls head off to school and work at 7:30am, whilst I trek to the gym. 30 minutes on the treadmill and then another 45 minutes on the weights machines usually tires me out. I return home and consume a second breakfast before doing an hour or so of tax or accounting work for my clients. Then it's onto the cross trainer for a 30 minute session. For someone who was formerly exercise-shy, I'm now loving it because I have regained the ability to do things that CIDP had robbed from me ... and that's a great feeling!
Then Christmas arrived and along with all the festivities, we found an App called ElfYourself, where you superimpose a picture of yourself onto a dancing elf. It's all very comical, until one evening I decided I would do the elf dance for real. If you're brave enough, click on the link below:
It's not very pretty, but for a man who suffered from poor balance and could barely walk without a crutch 5 months ago, I felt an enormous sense of achievement.
My dear wife has stood by me through my most difficult times and undoubtedly the HSCT would not have been possible for me without her strength and encouragement. As I now suffered from the dancing bug, I had planned a surprise party for her 40th Birthday at a Cuban restaurant with salsa dancing.
Vineetha loves all forms of Latin dancing, and for the last month I have been learning 'salsa by numbers' from a YouTube video. Everything was going to plan, my friends had arrived, we enjoyed some amazing cocktails and a great meal. Then the live band started playing and I thought to myself "Now's the time!".
I prepared my self for some salsa, limbering up my hips and led Vineetha to the dance floor, until I suddenly realised I hadn't danced salsa to music let alone with a partner. But this was not the time to back down, so there I stayed and here's the result.
This would never have been possible pre-HSCT or even pre- CIDP!
And the latest news?
This afternoon, I rode a bike that I had bought as Tanisha's Christmas present. Amazingly, I could still balance after 15 years of not riding a bike. The one downside was that my hands are still weak, and as I pulled the brakes to stop the bike did not slow. I narrowly missed the car on our driveway before ending up in a bush. Fortunately only my pride was dented.
