I can’t write about discolored and infected fingernails as a side effect of chemotherapy without throwing in some good news too. Not only did I document the sad state of my nails in photos, I kept taking pictures even after the ER visit. I wanted to see what the healing process looked like, something that can be difficult if you don’t have photographs to compare against. So what’s the good news? That which was nasty didn’t stay nasty.
(About the photos…I never intended to post these so they aren’t the greatest images, and I’m still a dork when it comes to working with WordPress, so I apologize for the weird sizing. Eventually I’ll figure it out.)
September 6, 2017: just over a week after my ER visit, the left ring finger was normal-sized again but clearly showing the damage from the infection in the form of a significant bruise. The middle finger wasn’t looking that hot either.
A week had passed since my infection had been treated (see previous post), I was still alive (a good thing!) and my nails hadn’t fallen off. My right hand, ignoring the battles of the left, was marching onward and away from chemo memories.
As I mentioned in my last post, I was wondering how much influence the vinegar and water solution that I soaked all my raw veggies in to clean them (per doctor’s orders!) had on the state of my right hand. It had spent much more time in that solution, at least several times a day, and didn’t show nearly the same amount of damage that the left hand had.
A week later, instead of nails dropping off one by one, the healing continued.
While nails do take a while to get rid of the damage they sustained, almost two months after the infection and about two and a half months following my last chemo infusion, they no longer screamed, “chemo patient!”
My nails served an important function, because I could use them as a visible indicator that things were, in fact, changing and recovery was truly taking place. That meant a lot to me as I awaited the return of my hair, a process that did not come as quickly as I’d been led to believe from the stories of others. But my nail journey was also something else: a reminder that everything awful, even the fear and pain and bruises from cancer, would eventually fade.
Frantic Shanti 
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