Treatment 3

This week felt busy!  Tuesday, anyway.  I had an appointment with the oncologist and bloodwork in the morning; a half day at school for the kids in, followed by an ultrasound at 1:00  (because my remaining ovary, let's call the damn thing "Leftie" has decided to grow a mass --- that was NOT there in December.)  So, the ultrasound is to determine whether it's a normal cyst or something more ominous that caused them to remove Rightie at Christmas.  I will get the results next week.  The positive thing is that if it's a third tumour, we're already battling it with this chemo, so Leftie can suck it, as far as I'm concerned. After the ultrasound I had to pick up Connor at Cubs and then take him home and head up to the Elementary School for Parent Teacher Interviews and then over to the High School for more P/T interviews.  And I did it all by myself! :) 

Wednesday was the third chemo infusion, so it was nice, actually, to sit back and read a book in a comfy armchair while forced to relax and let the medicine drip into my vein.  And I seemed to have tolerated the hydration well, I only had to use the bathroom three times in the 3 hours I was at the hospital, as opposed to the every 15 minutes that the first two infusions had me going.  So now I'm just going through the 46 hours of being hooked up to the pump, which comes off tomorrow morning.  Then my 12 days of freedom.   So far, I am counting myself among the lucky ones.  This chemotherapy seems to have been kind to me, so far.

The first treatment was easy peasy!  No nausea (my anti-nausea drugs work well), no bowel issues out of the ordinary (hey, I don't have an ordinary since I don't have a large intestine anymore) so it's really hard for me to answer the "any diarrhea" question.  Enough said about that.   Basically, other than some fatigue for a couple of days after disconnect (I'm blogging tonight because tomorrow I will crash), my only real symptoms were the neuropathy.

So, that's a weird one!  It affects my fingers mostly, but also my jaw and my throat and my lips.  Cold is not my friend.  I get pins and needles in my extremities the second I touch something cold, like frozen food or milk or chopping vegetables.  My lips and tongue go numb and I start to lisp when I go outside.  And taking a bite out of anything gives me about 30 seconds of pain in my jaw before I can continue eating.  Water has to be room temperature now to tolerate it, but I still get the stabbing in my throat sensation with room temperature, so I might need to start hydrating myself with warm water (ugh) or herbal teas all day.

Also, I seem to have 2 or 3 days of blurry vision after disconnect, but it goes away so I think it's related to the fatigue.

Second treatment, still easy.  A little more tired and a couple of queasy moments.  I took the Immodium a couple of times so that I could avoid the lecture the Oncologist gave me after the first week when she said, more than 5 BMs a day is a concern and I need to be using Immodium, but I argued that was a good day for me.  Anyway, it's a learning curve, this rapid digestive system. Vegetables are not my friends!

So, what I've noticed is that the symptoms have been coming on stronger this week (treatment 3) and more painfully, but I can still deal with it.  As long as I'm not vomiting, I consider myself lucky.  I woke up at 5:45 this morning, very queasy, so at 6 I dragged myself into the kitchen and took my meds and tried to go back to sleep but I failed.  So, no surprise that I fell asleep on the couch around 2:30.  Poor Connor needed to be picked up at the school at 4:00pm and I jumped off the couch at 4:06 and raced up to the school.  In record time, I might add.  I got there in about 4 minutes.  He wasn't too devastated.  Three teachers were kind enough to wait on the steps with him. SIGH.  Call it chemo neglect, then I get a pass on that one.  And my stomach has been off most of the day, but again, not anything I can't handle (although if you ask my supervisor - I confided in her way TMI last fall when I was working and in pain --- apparently I don't have a good reference point for what constitutes pain or what I should and shouldn't have to handle, because I didn't call in sick until I was, literally, on death's doorstep.)

But, so far, so good. I am becoming a bit paranoid that my hair is loosening, though.  There seems to be a lot more shedding than I'm accustomed to. But if you've seen my hair, you know I can afford it.  I usually pay to get it thinned, so let's call this a free bonus in the fashion department.  It's not enough for anyone but me to notice and it could just be my imagination. But when I run my hands through it, I pull out several strands throughout the day and even more when I comb it.  And it's getting tangled easily, which isn't something that usually happens.  Now I'm feeling more empathetic to my daughters who both have baby fine, easily tangled, hair.

Here's to freedom from the pump tomorrow, and a well deserved shower!  I've got the hang of showering around my picc line and keeping it dry, but not the pump. That one, I'll just wait out.

Anyway, almost 25% of the way through chemo... and I haven't vomited. I consider that a huge accomplishment! :)