I had Taxol today, number 7 of 8, so that makes it the penultimate chemo session. I love that word. At Pikesville Middle we used to have a secretary who would get on the intercom near the end of the year and make an announcement, "Teachers, your penultimate paycheck of the school year is ready to be picked up." It always gave us a good feeling, symbolizing summer vacation was just around the corner.
Chemo went pretty well, but it took six hours again. Today they gave me an extra steroid (oh joy) to try to head off the reaction that I had last time. They also started it out pretty slowly. Good tries, but they didn't work. About 15 minutes into it, with only 17 cc of 500, delivered, I got the same reaction. The good news was that I was more sensitive to what was happening, so I called them even earlier. They did the same things: another push of benadryl, turn off the Taxol, drip saline, wait 30 minutes, check vitals frequently. Then they started it up slowly again. At 11:30 this morning, I had only received 26 cc of the 500, so they were thinking I'd never get out of there. We were joking that I'd sit in there by myself all night and wait for them to come the next morning to finish it off! LOL Fortunately everything went well from then on, and they were able to increase the speed slowly. I finished at 3:20, and Mark and I got home about 4:30. YAY!! One more down. Tomorrow I will have my neulasta shot, and we'll do some shopping.
Lowell is on his way over now to watch TV and have a spaghetti dinner. He's coming back tomorrow, also, if his cold doesn't get worse. He's catching what we've all had. I am feeling better, and I know my white counts are up right now, so I'm not worried about him being sick.
I have had a LOT of steroids today, so I expect to sit up all night watching TV or reading. It will be lonely, but this time I don't think I'll even bother trying to lie down in bed. There's really no point to it unless this round is very different. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed and praying that I don't get the joint pain this time either. I didn't on the second one, so I'm hoping this third one goes just as well.
I have NO plans for New Year's Eve other than watching TV and going to bed after the ball drops. What are your plans for New Year's Eve?
PS I did write down my calories, but I think it's going to be higher than I estimated for lunch. They gave me beef noodle soup (not kosher, but I ate it anyway) that was full of meaty chunks. I bet that was 300 calories. I had a tuna salad sandwich on a multi-grain bread that was probably 400 calories. The bag of chips had more than I estimated, 220. Then there were the two gigantic oatmeal raisin cookies. I'm estimating at least 150 each for another 300. I did not ask for any Coke or snacks, though, so that was good. Still lunch might have been as high as 1220 calories. In my old world of dieting, that's the whole day's calories. I had already had 380 at breakfast, and dinner should be about 420. Now I'm up to 2020. Not going to lose weight on that, but still it's better than I was doing. Of course, that doesn't account for any snacks I might eat watching TV tonight, not to mention what could happen if I stay up all night! OY! Why is this always so hard?
I am so glad that you got through your chemo even though you did have some of the side effects. I hope that tonight isn't too lonely. You taught me a new word--penultimate. I like it.
ReplyDeleteRhonda
Yeah it's an awesome word and easy to use! Hope your chemo also went well. Juanita is having her Taxol tomorrow, so I wished her well, too. I'm coming to the end. I am almost looking forward to radiation because it will be in Florida! And it's going to be so EASY by comparison. Right?
ReplyDeleteDo I have to remind you that steroids make you really really hungry. So stop beating yourself up about the food. Glad you have maintained your sense of humor and you're getting more in tune with what's going on in your body so you can get help when needed. Especially when the need is immediate. This really is progress. Enjoy the night.
ReplyDeletePenultimate is a cool word. I like it, too.
I think that radiation was a whole lot easier for me than chemo. I had it during the winter and I walked every day before radiation just to remind myself that I wasn't sick like some of the people that I saw every day at radiation. I think that that helped me not to get so tired from radiation. Some people get a little burned but that never happened to me. While you are in Florida if it isn't warm enough to walk at least you will have the Wii to exercise with. I hope you had some fun last night if you were up all night. My chemo went well. I was very discouraged at gaining weight since I had had chemo 2 weeks ago. I talked to my dr about it and he was very nice and made me feel better. I am gong to start writing down everything I eat and trying to stick with a certain amount of calories. I really need to start doing that for myself. The fact that you talk about your challenges with weight control makes it easier for me to talk about mine. Thank you for that. I will write Juanita a note to wish her well with her chemo. Thank you for telling me.
ReplyDeleteRhonda