Move Over Deet

In late winter / early spring of 2016, at the age of 35, I was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer. This, along with the surgery and 12 rounds of a chemotherapy called FOLFOX were a complete surprise. Just the word chemotherapy strikes fear into the hearts and minds of those facing it. The reason – side effects. As with all chemo drugs, there were side effects and the majority of them were negative and made life harder. However, when I started to pay attention to everyday life, I noticed that one gave me a superpower that my fellow mosquito buffets would have been jealous of.

Before you start chemo, you are educated about it. You learn all the possible side effects, which ones are most common, what to watch out for, when to call the doctor, etc. Nausea, indigestion, neuropathy, hair thinning, and weight gain were the side effects that accompanied my chemo regime. The first three preferred to be the center of attention, and it was always a surprise which one would be the worst behaved after any given treatment. Hair thinning and weight gain were constant but gradual throughout my cancer treatment journey.

You would think that nausea and indigestion would go hand in hand, but that was not necessarily my case. Nausea could be managed for the most part. There were certain smells, such as floral, very sweet perfumes and cooking beef that would automatically make me nauseous. The indigestion was not as easily managed and didn’t seem to want to quit until the chemo had run its course. This one however was the most annoying because once it set it, I knew it was there to stay, and I could find nothing to ease it.

I started to feel neuropathy about the second treatment. Unlike nausea and indigestion, which I was familiar with, identifying the neuropathy took time. You know that feeling when you have sock lint between your toes? That was the feeling! (did you just wiggle your toes???) I took my socks off, checked between my toes and nothing – so I put them back on. The feeling was there again, so, off came the socks. This time, I would be smarter than the sock lint because it had to be hiding in the actual sock, right?? So, I turned the sock inside out and checked for sock lint…nothing. I even added changing socks during that charade. It took me roughly 145 times (slightly exaggerated) before realizing there was NOTHING there. When I noticed the numbness, it made sense; Oxaliplatin had started damaging my nerves.

Other than nausea, a side effect that people associate with chemo is hair loss, which FOLFOX can cause, but it can also cause hair to thin. When I heard this, I had no idea what to expect. The picture I had in my head of thinning hair was one where patches of hair went missing and I had random bald spots on my head. Hair loss, on the other hand, was much easier to picture. I’m not one who is, other than physically, attached to my hair, but I did not want bald spots all over my head. So, in preparation for treatment, I got a pixie cut to prevent shocking myself, my friends, and my family. I did not lose all my hair, but it did thin out A LOT. The thinning, however, was not in the form of bald spots, but much less hair and a receding hairline.

Unfortunately, from time passed, when people say, “cancer patient” they picture a person walking around who is just skin and bones. Fortunately, that is not always the case now. This is made evident by the number of times I heard, “you don’t look sick” or “you look great.” When I was diagnosed, I figured chemo was a terrible weight loss plan, but I had a few pounds to spare. As I completed the regime, something completely backwards had happened – I GAINED weight. I’m not just talking a couple of pounds either. When all was said and done, I was up 20lbs from when I started. How did this happen? Steroids. Drs. Figured out (thank you research) that steroids help with nausea and help with appetite. Though this is a good thing, it may have increased my appetite too much.

All of these are very common, but the one that acted as a mosquito repellent was the one that I didn’t mind at all.

Summers in Indiana are humid, making it perfect for mosquitos. If you are like me, mosquitoes do NOT make me happy. As I sat outside one evening, I noticed a mosquito buzzing around. Not abnormal by any stretch of the imagination. However, as I continued to watch the little pest, it wasn’t landing.

Being as mosquitos are flock creatures (don’t believe this is a scientific fact), friends started to join but weren’t landing either. As I sat mesmerized by them just hovering above my skin and wondering what could be causing this phenomenon, it dawned on me, chemo. FOLFOX was acting as a mosquito repellent! Spring, summer, and fall of 2016 would be the one and only time in my life that I would go without bug spray or bites. Unfortunately, as the chemo ended, so did my ever so brief superpower of being immune to mosquito bites.

When people think about and doctors explain side effects of chemo, most of them are negative. I haven’t looked to see if “mosquito repellant” is one of the side effects of FOLFOX, but why not throw some positive ones in there?? For now, Deet is much more highly recommended for ultimate mosquito deterrent.