Help, my toenails are “jumping ship”

By Sheryl Jedlinski

Today I awoke to discover the nail on my left baby toe hanging on by a thread. I probably would not have even noticed it, were it not for the dot of my favorite red nail polish remaining from my last pedicure… too long ago to remember. What shook this toenail from its bed, I wondered. Would fellow toenails “jump ship,” too, in a show of solidarity, or are they non-union members? I didn’t have to wait long for an answer. By dinnertime, the nail on my left big toe also was hanging on by a thread. My husband, Tony, wrapped a bandage around it to keep it from being prematurely torn off and potentially opening up a path for infection.

Everyone I asked blamed chemotherapy, not cancer, for causing hair and nail damage and loss. While chemotherapy may stop or slow the growth of cancer cells, it…