My brother just sent me the coolest pair of black gloves from the folks at Agloves.  Great improvement to my quality of life.  Thanks, bro.

The gloves were created so that folks can use their touchscreens (like iPhones, iPads) in cold weather.  Slightly different application for me:  I like wearing gloves now since my hands are always freezing from the nasty chemo-related neuropathy.  I can now type away and make calls with less pain since my fingers are protected from directly touching the cool screen.

How do these crazy gloves work?

http://www.agloves.com

The gloves’ secret is that they are woven with silver-coated nylon fibers, which maintains the electrical conductivity needed to use the touchscreen.  Touchscreens on the iPad and iPhone do not work because of finger pressure or heat.   Instead, the screen reacts to the tiny electrical conductivity that naturally occurs in your skin from the moisture, salts, and oils on your fingertips.  So if someone tries to type wearing ordinary gloves, it’s a no-go: the conductivity is lost.  For folks like me who need to type but find it painful, the Agloves are perfect: my hands stay warm, stay off the cool screen and I can keep up my Angry Birds score.  Now you know that Silver (Ag) is the most electrically conductive element. Copper and Gold are next.

Really messed-up nerves (RMUN).

chemo trashes your nerves

My six months of chemo earlier this year left me with tingling, pain, numbness and cold sensitivity in my fingers and feet.  Yes, you can have all of these sensations simultaneously.  It kind of feels like that cold, burning sensation you get if you hold a snowball for too long.  The technical name is “Chemo-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy” (CIPN).  I call it “Really Messed-Up Nerves” (RMUN, my new acronym).  The platinum-based drug, oxaliplatin, in one of my chemo cocktails, FOLFOX, really did a number on the myelin sheathing (fatty covering) of  the peripheral sensory nerves in my hands and feet.  When this sheathing is damaged, it causes the nerves to sort of “short-circuit.”  The scrambled signals from the nerves are interpreted as numbness, cold-sensitivity, tingling, pain and other weird feelings in my hands and feet.

I often wear gloves at home to lessen the painful sensations caused by touching anything cool.  And my hiking socks insulate and cushion my feet from the cool hardwood floor and help avoid things brushing against my feet.

The good news: my RMUNs should repair themselves to some degree. Hopefully, they will be back to normal in six months to a year.

Negative, negative, negative.

I usually don’t like that word but as of last night I do. That word was used all over my official pathology report. Negative for malignant cancer cells in my peritoneal cavity after removal of the wicked tumor, right ovary and fallopian tube, a small piece of my small intestine as well as a small section of ureter (which has been re-attached to my bladder). One 7-hr surgery and a few missing parts and I am CANCER-FREE!!!!

Let’s not forget the Feb. surgery, a laparascopic surgery and 23 chemo treatments that helped get me to this point.

Besides my doctors being thrilled with the pathology report, too, there are some decisions to be made. I may have another round of a different chemo to make sure the rogue cells have a very difficult time coming back. Or we may play the “wait and see” game and check things out via CT scan in 3 months. I’m fine with either route.

All I can say is that I’m still stunned. I am one of the lucky ones. I walk the halls with my dance partner (IV pole) and I see all of us fighting for our lives. I pray that the others will heal, too.

I’ve got to thank my doctors – Dr. Paul Mansfield and Dr. Michael Overman and all the staff here at MD Anderson Cancer Center for their incredible plan of action and care. Thanks to my local oncologist, Dr. Richard Helmer and his staff for keeping me feeling good during chemo. Thanks to Dr. Aravind Sankar for taking the first tumor out. But most of all, thanks to great family and friends.

Of course, cancer-free is for today, tomorrow, a week, a month, a year, forever – who knows how long. All of us only have one day at a time. But you bet we”ll be celebrating this GREAT news for a very long time!!! Just in time for my birthday.