One side effect of Taxotere is onycholysis – a fancy term for “the painless separation of the nail from the nail bed.” Not everyone does, there are a few things that may (or may not) help. I had great fun using fancy nail polish all the time – I still lost 8 nails on my toes and my finger nails are only just hanging on.

As I’ve been pretty much offline the past four months, most posts will start in the middle – which is why we’re now looking at my nails of today.

They are growing, slowly but surely, and I cannot wait to not have to deal with tape and gauze multiple times. Surgical tape sticks well (which is good cos – finger tips – major useage) which also means that the outer 5 cm of my fingers are permanently sticky.

Try handling small squares of gauze with very sticky fingers. It’s not easy.

Which is another reason I’ve not been writing much. When your fingertips are ten times their normal size, it’s difficult to type!

I am longing for healthy, long nails that don’t hurt when I trim them, and not having to use garden shears because they’re – hard as nails…