Did I really have chemo yesterday?

I woke up feeling amazingly good this morning. I can hardly believe I actually had chemo yesterday. There was no nausea or fatigue or fuzzy headedness. I felt remarkably alert and awake.

I ate a nice big bowl of three high fiber cereals mixed together plus raisins and skim milk for breakfast. The Senokot I took at 10 p.m. last night worked! Thank God! There will no constipation this round.

Finally at 9 a.m. this morning I realized I would have to take an anti-nausea med, Zofran, not so much because I felt nauseous yet, but because at 9:30 I had to take the three antibiotic capsules, Keflex. They upset my stomach last night, as they warn you they might, so I took the Zofran plus some yogurt and fruit to ward off potential stomach upset from the other pills. Now I'm typing this blog and starting to feel fuzzy in the head and a little nauseated. Still it doesn't seem like it's the chemo as much as it is the combination of these two drugs causing the symptoms now.

Yesterday, Mark and I took a walk around the neighborhood. I posted a large album of photos, which I emailed out to some folks I thought might be interested. If anyone reading this blog wants to see more pictures, just send me a personal email letting me know. If you don't know my email address yourself, then post a little comment here with your email address (if you feel OK about that) and I'll get them to you. Otherwise there are a few pictures of it here on this blog today, obviously. I wanted to get that walk in before I went to chemo.

OK disclaimer here: You must have noticed there are no pictures on this blog, despite that last paragraph. When I finished the blog, I tried to upload the pictures, but the system is down. Yesterday they warned me that the system for uploading photos would be down, but I didn't think it was continuing to today. I'll try again tomorrow to put the pictures of the walk on the blog. Sorry about that. The full album is still available by personal email from me.

Chemo went very well actually. The only little glitch was the port. I didn't remember to mention to this nurse that I need a one-inch needle to access it. She iced me up, because even though I had used the lidocain AND used the bandage, I had missed the right spot. DOH! So again with the ice bag. It stings probably worse than the needle would, but I never feel the needle after the ice. Anyway she poked me, but she wasn't getting any blood return. She poked me three times thinking she was missing it, but finally I thought to ask if she was using a one-inch needle. No, she had missed that in my file. She apologized and said none of the nurses would be offended if I reminded them of that at the start. Funny that I remembered it yesterday and not today. Once that was cleared up, the fourth poke went right in and worked. Hallelujah!

After that, I wrapped up in my lovely "prayer shawl" courtesy of Jane Wall from CMC, put on my iPod listening to Evey's CD and Mamma Mia among other cuts, and tried to read a little on my Kindle and work a puzzle. My blood pressure held steady (95/57 when I started and 114/65 when I ended), which made me very happy. I started at 1:30 and walked out at 4:30. All in all, not too bad. I was very tired the rest of the day, constantly nodding off in front of the TV. I took the meds at home and did feel some nausea. Still, I felt that it went pretty well. Now this morning I am stunned at how good I really feel.

At 4 p.m. I will get the Neulasta shot to boost the white blood cells. It worked like a charm last time, doing its job of keeping my blood count normal, and gave me NO painful symptoms. I mentioned to my oncologist on Tuesday that I got no bad side effects from the Neulasta, and she grinned, put her finger to her lip, and said, "Ssshhh, don't jinx it." She said most women fall into a pattern of having the same reaction, good or bad, every time. It doesn't always work that way, but I'm hoping it does for me. If I have no reaction to it today, then I think I'll be home free.

So today should be another nice one. I've already done some correspondence, balanced my checkbook, paid a bill, watched morning news, typed a blog, kept up with Facebook, and it's only 10:45. Ha Ha!! I'm going to go shower, dress, walk a bit, and head to my shot later today. Tonight, Lowell will join us again to continue the DVDs of How I Met Your Mother, which I love, and dinner. Tonight, Mark is making a vegetarian shepherd's pie, sounds fabulous.

Despite cancer and living away from my home, I feel like life is pretty good! How about you? I hope life is good for all of you, too.