It’s official: I have five eyelashes left. Total. Both eyes, all four lids.

I knew this would happen. There are probably 75 hairs left on my head, and the eyebrows which were always — let’s face it — on the skimpy side have all but disappeared. But I was hoping to keep my eyelashes.

Sure, some of it is due to vanity. When you are bald and have to paint on eyebrows, you look a lot less creepy/sick/weird when you have eyelashes. But eyelashes serve a practical purpose, as well: They prevent random crap from floating airborne into your eyes. Crap like cloth fibers, dust, pollen, ashes…you get the picture. I was particularly uncomfortable at the retreat last weekend, with the abundance of tree pollen mixing with the fibers from our sewing projects. Ugh.

Discomfort aside, my “lashlessness” makes it hard for me to laugh at the ridiculous images I see popping up on my Facebook feed with the women who are — I guess — trying to start a new fashion trend by inserting lashes around their nostrils. Sure, it looks great on a 20 year-old Asian chick, but what about some dude from New Jersey in his 70’s? Not so hot, huh? Actually, it makes me think of spiders crawling out of their nostrils. And that is NEVER cute.

On the positive side, I made it through chemo #5 last week with none of the weird and uncomfortable complications of chemo #4. And as I remarked to mom this morning, “Just think, three weeks from today I will be past the worst of chemo #6…and can bring this chapter to a close.”

Of course, once chemo is done, then we’ll have some  idea of what is going on with radiation. I’m going under the assumption that I will have radiation next; nothing I’ve heard so far suggests otherwise. But how much/how long/when…those are all question marks right now. And I really hate question marks.

But for now, I’m getting through the worst of the post-chemo days. Leg cramps are manageable, the neuropathy (numbness) at the end of my fingers is back for now, and the metallic taste in my mouth is gone.

I truly can see the finish line from here, with or without eyelashes.