10th Treatment

The weekend was quiet. I didn't have much of an appetite or energy although I perked up a little bit on Sunday - enough to plant a few more flowers and do a little weeding. I have found that I like the chocolate Ensure drink as a meal replacement or supplement.

I had bloodwork completed again, and then an appointment with my oncologist. Everything looks as it should. My white blood cell count shows that my body is working against infection which means that I'm less immune to random bugs floating around. I'm supposed to avoid crowds or other similar situations where I might be more susceptible to picking up something. Although the toxin level is up it is in acceptable limits, so all is as it should be. All that, and then I had to go for my treatment too.

After two days off, they said that it would probably be a rough night. Geez, they were right! We stopped off at the grocery store on the way home, but I kept my sunglasses on the whole time because the headache had already begun. We unpacked the groceries and then I went out on the patio to relax and wait. Within an hour it felt as though I had been run over by a truck. I took two Tylenol at 5:00pm, and at some point after that headed to bed. I asked my husband to bring me two more Tylenol at 9:00. The fever was high enough to have me huddled under the blankets, but at least I wasn't shivering. The aches had me miserable. Around 10:00pm, the worst seemed over and I ventured downstairs for something to drink. It was tough to roll out of bed this morning because I still have the headache. I know that I couldn't handle the construction noise at work with this pain in my head. Some mornings I wonder whether I could even make the walk from the parking lot to my office - that's pretty sad. I'm going to make myself get in there at least one morning this week, just to prove to myself that I can do it. Besides, I'm ready for a few different files.

10 down, 9 to go

8th Treatment

Okay, 8 treatments done but this is no picnic. I have no appetite at all, and some foods just taste weird. I'm drinking a lot more than I'm eating and that has caused a few intestinal problems if you can guess what I mean. I weighed myself this morning and I've lost 8 pounds. The good news (well, technically, losing 8 pounds is good news to me) is that the side effects haven't been as severe as they were last week. The headache has been the worst part, and even that's bearable. Last night the fever didn't seem to get as high as the night before, and I actually slept rather well. I'm still dealing with lightheadedness which comes and goes. The nurse kept the IV in my hand yesterday with hopes of reusing it today, but it's been bugging me and I'm wondering whether it's going to work. I guess it's really not worth worrying about since there's nothing I can do about it anyway. I'm glad this is it for the week, and I'll be able to call myself halfway through. Really, it's hard to complain too much when I only have to go through this for a month and there are patients at the cancer center who have been going through treatments for years. It could be so much worse. I have to remind myself that I really am one of the lucky ones.

8 down, 11 to go