Yesterday's check-up was great. My blood count is normal, and the doctor said I am ready to have chemo again today as scheduled. I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm not dreading it. There is no way to know if it will feel the same, better, or worse. Everyone responds differently, and the only way to find out is to do it. I will be a bit more proactive on two counts: constipation and nausea. I already have all five anti-nausea drugs on hand, which is different than last time. I will not be afraid to take them as often as needed and in combination. The doctor confirmed that this is fine. She also confirmed that the combination of drugs in my chemo cocktail DOES cause constipation in some people. (Ironically, it also causes diarrhea in some people, so go figure.) Since I did have constipation last time, she said it was OK to be a bit proactive and take Senokot, a gentle laxative, later today and tomorrow to help prevent it. I have already changed my breakfast to include more fiber than I used to have at breakfast. Prunes as a snack later in the day and lots of fluids will hopefully work to prevent that problem this round. At least that's the plan.
My eyes are very dry now, a side-effect of the chemo, so she recommended a Natural Tears eye drop that I can use as often as I like. Mark bought some for me on the way home. I also have to take Keflex, an antibiotic in capsule form, for a week due to an infected skin eruption. UGH. Bad timing on that, nothing unusual or weird, but because of the chemo the danger of it not healing or having the infection become systemic is very real even from a small thing. So I will be taking 3 capsules in the morning and 3 more at night for 7 days. So many pills to take...have I mentioned that I hate taking pills? Still this is a small price to pay in the bigger scheme of things, like LIVING, cancer free!
I will be leaving at 12:45 today to head to the hospital for my 1:30 appointment. I think I'll feel pretty tired through Saturday night, but with the right meds and foods, I hope that will be the only problem. Oh, and the hair will be leaving. She also confirmed that Sunday would be a great time to have a shaving party because the hair will most definitely fall out by next Wednesday anyway. So eight people (Kip, Denise, Logan, Cindy, Ken, Mark, Lowell, and me) will gather at Cindy's house on Sunday for kosher Chinese food and the ceremonial shaving of heads, mine and Kip's. Cindy has proposed a rule that if one of the party-goers is NOT shaving his/her head, he/she MUST wear a funny hat. She will be providing the hats. There should be some interesting pictures on Monday!
I truly enjoyed my time with my friend Debbie. She arrived around 5 p.m., and we had a wonderful time talking and eating dinner and even watching a little TV together. She left around 8:30 and I felt uplifted and renewed by her presence. Debbie is a woman who has sent me so many encouraging emails throughout this process, and I can hardly thank her enough for her daily dose of wisdom. Her timing was also great. Instead of sitting around worrying and thinking about the upcoming chemo session, I had other, more positive things to talk about. Thank you, Debbie.
I am so happy that you get to do your second chemo today. I will be getting ready for my chemo today and leaving soon, but I will be thinking of you later today as you are in the middle of yours. I am so glad for your friend there last night for you to hang out with. I went walking with a good friend of mine yesterday and it truly is nice and uplifting just to be able to have a good time with a friend. Have a good morning and I will check with you later to see how you are doing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rhonda. Good luck on your chemo also. You are an old hand at doing chemo, for sure. I bet you have lost track of how many times you've gone in. Are the after effects the same every time for you now or do you still find some surprises? I didn't get to walk yesterday because we were so busy, but I'm hoping to head out in about an hour for at least a thirty minute walk because I suspect my fatigue post-chemo will curtail long walks for a few days. I want to get a nice one in before chemo today. I'll still try to walk as much as possible, of course, post-chemo, but it will not be a big 45 minute hike like I did Monday. Good luck again on your day, and we'll check in on each other later. Take care.
ReplyDeleteBecky,
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to get back to you as my day got pretty busy. My chemo went well. I ended up going to the hospital after chemo to get some TPA in my port (a blood thinner) as my port was partially occluded. They could flush meds into it, but they couldn't withdraw blood from it. They put one dose of blood thinner in my port and then waited 30 minutes and it flushed fine. I was happy that this worked so quickly. They told me that it might occlude again in 2 weeks when I have my next chemo, but after one more dose of blood thinner if needed then it should be working lots better. Well I am hoping that things are ok for you. I will look for your blog later in the day.
Rhonda,
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear from you. Sorry you hd to go have the extra step, but at least it didn't take long and it worked. Is this because your port has been in for so long? I am doing ok, and I'll certainly be writing a more detailed blog about it later on. Hope you have a good day.
I am not sure exactly why my port occluded as I have been religious in getting it flushed. I worked with lots of ports as an RN but I always floated around to different areas so I never worked consistently with the same port. Now that I have my own consistent "same port" I will probably have more things to learn about it.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is fun to see the different computer words that come up when I post my comments to the blog. It would be interesting to try and invent definitions to some of those words.