Generally Feeling Good

Still feeling really pretty good! This morning, when the boys woke up and were having their bottles, I went out and planted some hydrangeas in a flowerbed Tom built for me on Memorial Day weekend. It wasn’t hot out yet, that early in the morning, and it was really nice to get out in the garden.

I ran errands, getting ready for the boys’ birthday party, and let me tell you: wearing a wig on a hot sunny Mississippi day is not the most fun thing in the world! These days, I pretty much only wear wigs when I’m out of the house. At home, I wear a kerchief or a baseball cap or cowboy hat or one of my chemo sleep caps. Being Without Hair isn’t all that bad! One bonus: no shaving my legs anymore, as the hair falls out on its own when I put on moisturizer.

One Week post-Round 2

Had an oncologist appointment today, to check on bloodwork. My white blood/red blood cell levels have dropped a bit, but nothing scary or dramatic — they said it’s pretty much what they expect one week post-chemo. I had another Procrit shot and, it turns out, I also had a Neupogen shot (same thing as the Neulasta shot). My weight is down again, two pounds. But otherwise they said I’m doing great! My blood pressure is back to normal, albeit on the low side of what’s normal for me.

Otherwise, I didn’t have as much energy as yesterday, but still felt far better than I had over the weekend. I also spoke to the leader of the local hospital’s breast cancer support group (this is different from the support group I’ve attended at my oncologist’s), who gave me the name and number of the hospital’s nurse oncologist, who is available anytime to help answer questions that patients might not want to “bother the doctor with” — like is this food okay to eat while on chemo? Should I be worried that such-and-such? Anyhow, that’s a nice resource to have if I need it.

5 Days since Round 2

Even though I woke up feeling terrible, the day improved and by the end, I was feeling tons better than I have in days. I didn’t take any anti-nausea meds “as needed” (that is, I still took the ones I’m scheduled to take, but didn’t need any extra ones, the ones that say “as needed”), I went to lunch with Tom and had almost half a BBQ plate lunch, I picked up some groceries, played with the boys a bunch, and had two popsicles. Who knew that popsicles would be the solution to my staying hydrated problems? What a tasty solution, too.

4 Days Since Round 2

STILL feeling terrible! I did manage to have a very delicious BLT for lunch today, though. Fingers crossed that I’ll start feeling better very soon…like, maybe, tomorrow?

(ever notice that the crappier I feel, the shorter my posts are?)

3 Days since round 2

Same story as yesterday, unfortunately. In order to feel halfway decent, I’ve got to be either sleeping or fairly heavily medicated. I haven’t seen much of the boys today as a result. Thank goodness for Tom and our weekend nanny.

Second Day after Round 2 (am so confused)

Okay, so maybe my Second Day After Chemo is just going to be not a very nice day. No matter how much I keep up on my medication schedule, eat, drink, rest, stay out of the sun, or anything else, I still seem to feel pretty darn yucky on the Second Day. Ugh. But, it did get better from here on out with the last round, and at least this time I (knock on wood!) don’t have the crazy painful bone aching, so this too shall pass.

Round 2, Day 2

Feeling pretty decent today. Maybe a little bit tired but that’s it. We took the boys with us to the oncologist’s so that I could get the Neulasta shot. The boys, as predicted, charmed all the patients there. Thomas walked around the chemo room giggling and before long, all of the patients were holding out their arms to him and calling him over to them.

Afterwards, we stopped to pick up lunch at Moe’s, where we are pretty much regulars. The manager recognized me and said “oh! lookit you with your new haircut!” (I was wearing one of my short wigs, the one that I think makes me look like Laura Bush) I laughed and said, “well…not quite,” then explained quickly that I’m going through chemo. I promised him that the next time I come to Moe’s, I’ll wear a different wig for him.

Tonight is the big test of whether or not the Taking Meds On-Time will help stave off the queasies. With Round #1, it was the night of day 1 post chemo that I started feeling bad and was in full UGHHHH mode by the next day. Hopefully, my new arsenal of anti-nausea meds will go far towards beating that for Round #2.

Round #2 of Chemo

Round #2 wasn’t bad, although I’m a bit headachy. It took about the same amount of time that the first round took, except this time I didn’t fall asleep. The Ativan and Benadryl they gave me in my pre-med IVs made me cross-eyed, but I never quite dropped off to sleep.

My blood pressure was still pretty low this morning. I think (and they agree) that I’d been concentrating so much on eating enough that I’d forgotten to concentrate on drinking enough, too. This is tricky business, keeping track of food and drink and washing of hands and taking pills and noting symptoms/side effects and getting enough rest and yet also trying to get some exercise.

Down half a pound. Obviously the big dinner at Texas de Brazil did not do its’ job of packing on the pounds for me.

Did I tell y’all that a bunch of girlfriends sent me an iPod earlier this week (pink, of course)? I brought it today and it was so fun to have there. I even put a cut from a chemo visual imagery CD that my friend Jessica sent me on there. I must say, even chemo isn’t too sucky when you’re listening to the Spamalot Broadway soundtrack.

Tomorrow I go in for the dreaded bone-achy neulasta shot. The nurses and one of the patients requested (okay….demanded!) that I bring the boys in with me. So we’re all gonna get duded up and go to the cancer center, wheeeeee! We know how to have some serious fun around here.

An Unexpected Afternoon at the Oncologist’s

Got up this morning to bring the boys their bottles in their cribs and I got all dizzy and fell down in the nursery doorway. I was fine again the moment I hit the ground, but it was the second time in three days that I’ve gotten so dizzy that I’ve fallen, so I called the oncologist’s, who asked me to come in and get checked out.

The very second thing they did when I got there–after taking my temperature, which was normal–was check my blood pressure. They use these automated machines to check blood pressure, and my blood pressure was so low today that it caused an error three times. Finally the nurse tried checking my BP manually, and it was incredibly low: 84/58. My bloodwork came back fine as can be, so they pronounced me dehydrated and I spent most of the afternoon receiving a liter of IV fluids. I’m home again now and they said there’s no reason to cancel tomorrow’s Round #2 of chemo.

Chemo Brain Has Affected My Reading Choices

Tried all weekend to read Bill Clinton’s autobiography, but it was too much for me. I just couldn’t keep up with all the words and concepts and ended up returning it to the library today and retreating to the much-easier-to-read (for those Chemo Brain Folk among us) volume 4 of Harry Potter.

Other than the library trip, I accomplished very little. I’ve been having a ton of dizzy spells for the past few days (but I swear, I’ve been keeping up with my medications! So it’s not that) and today I felt very very wobbly indeed. Ugh, I thought being nearly three weeks out from Round #1 of chemo would mean I’d feel pretty darn good, but no.