A few things!
1) My younger brother confirmed he is coming for Christmas, which is rare. He also asked if I had a recipe for some unique chocolate chip cookies that a friend of my mom's (who also babysat for us for years when we were little) used to make for everyone during the holidays. Getting those cookies each year as kids was a huge deal for us. Unfortunately, she passed away many years ago now, and no one I know living would have her recipe. However... I think I've garnered enough skill in the kitchen to replicate them pretty closely, and am going to do some tests today to try to make a close approximation for a present for him. (The cookie part itself was soft but very thin, with a huge chocolate chip proportion. This created mountains of chocolate chips in the cookie that because the thin dough didn't take long to cook on account of the thin dough, would keep their shape. They also had a strong flavor. My guess is that it is a very buttery, room temperature dough with probably triple the usual amount of chocolate chips to dough proportionally, making the dough "melt" out into the thinned wafer edges quickly. Probably with extra vanilla extract, and brown sugar over white.)
2) My hair has filled in significantly now! Only 4 months on the typical regimen, and I have no truly barren spots. All of a sudden in the past day or two, my thin, wispy hairs on crown darkened filling in the area. My hair on top and on crown is still noticeably, severely thinned, at least in contrast to my thick hair on sides, so it's not great still, but I am more hopeful than I ever been I will be able to get a full head of hair with only some light transplants (the cost of which has always stressed me out, so the more I grow the more I save!). I have an unrealistic hope as well that by the time I am on the hair meds and now with HRT added for the recommended 1-2 years that this early turnaround can only mean even more dramatic results down the line.
3) Today ends my first week worth of HRT, and I am ecstatic every time I take the pills. It just all feels so wonderful and right, and I've never been so confident in myself!
