Day 44

Today I will get my second round of Chemo at 4pm and 4am.  My friend and co-worker Nate asked several questions that I will answer here in case others are wondering the same thing:

1. "Why does your hair fail out?" 
1. Chemo drugs work by killing cells that are dividing quickly, which is why they work against cancer cells. But other cells in the body, such as those in the bone marrow, the lining of the mouth and intestines, and the hair follicles, also divide quickly. So, because your hair grows fast, it is affected by the chemo.  That is also why they cannot use the loss of hair to help others who want to grow it back.  
2. "I have been on the bone marrow registry for 2 years and I have never received a call.  What do they have against Italians with big bones? "
1. Siblings are the best match for bone marrow transplants.  There needs to be a very high genetic match in order to be a donor so that the recipient body doesn't reject the new bone morrow and new immune system.  Some people don't have good matches with siblings or have any siblings, so they must get an outside match, like the bone marrow registry.  White males have the highest chance of a match on the registry but the simple truth is it is hard to be a close genetic match to a perfect stranger that is unrelated to you. 

If you have any others, feel free to ask.