Know what? Now, you're gonna think I'm crazy, but... I'd rather lose my hair than my fingernails. They're shredded. I'm using emory boards in bulk to file off the chips and keep them down to the exact ends of my fingertips. They're growing, but what's growing out at the end right now is thin, tears easily, and chips or splits over nothing.

It's not really vanity. I mean, yeah, I look at my hands a lot. I have very nice hands, actually, with or without long nails. They're down right beautiful when my nails are long, 50 yrs old or not. But the real bother right now is that I can't use my nails. They're soft or just disintegrate, when I'm accustomed to them being strong and useful for cutting plastic off packages, digging under paper carton edges like frozen food boxes, etc. I use them, or used to use them, a lot! I even type with the ends of my fingernails when they're long.

When I first cut all my nails back, my poor previously protected soft tips were sore. That's over now, but my fingertips also contain the nerve endings that are so sensitive to cold because of the chemo. If I had my long nails, strong like they usually are, I could handle stuff with them and the cold wouldn't get to the skin on my fingertips so much.

I miss my fingernails, dangit.

Still got my hair though, which is nice, of course. Honestly I'd trade, but I'd kinda rather not lose both. hehe I'd still be okay with it if I did, I'm just sayin'...