lynthia | The quick-ish catch up post

Round 1: Chemo day itself was VERY long, I was there for about 9.5 hours. But that's how it goes on day one, they want to make sure that you aren't going to have any allergic reactions to any of the individual drugs. I didn't, and that's good news, and I actually felt pretty good that day and the day after. I started getting tired on Wednesday, and I thought maybe I was starting to have some nausea on Thursday but it was mild. We left on our vacation Saturday. By Sunday, I was having serious issues making myself eat. I didn't feel sick, it was hard for me to put a finger on it, but it turned out that I was having acidic stomach issues. I always have, but I've also always controlled it with the food that I eat. Turns out that you can't do that anymore when chemo ruins the lining of your stomach. Drugs are now necessary. So I started taking Zantac, and things turned around quickly. By that night I was able to eat a small dinner, and for the rest of the week I ate pretty well. Couple of little issues as I figured out what doesn't taste good anymore (chemo mouth is real, and it makes everything taste kind of metallic), but nothing serious. I was able to enjoy my food just fine in DisneyWorld, and that's key. ;)
One sad thing that I've been avoiding writing down: I can't drink Pepsi anymore. Between the acid not loving carbonation, and the metallic taste, it's just not good anymore. I dropped a 20 year Pepsi habit in three days. Now, before anyone tries to tell me what a great thing that'll be for my health in the long run, let's remember one thing: I'm not a quitter. :-P

Round 2: The chemo itself was shorter, but I had to go in early to have my port put in. So it was another long day. Good though, and again, I felt fine when I went home. Tuesday and Wednesday were okay, and then got slammed on Thursday with a return of the fatigue and my stomach was not happy. I kept thinking that I could fix it, eat something different, I dunno. But I was wrong, and after spending the entire weekend in bed not being able to eat anything, I caved and called the chemo nurse on Monday. After she told me what medication to add to my list, she also reminded me that seriously, waiting all weekend to call was dumb. I'm not supposed to feel that crappy, ever. Yes it's chemo, and it sucks, but that's what pharmaceuticals are for. Damn it. So now I have two acid-reducers to take every day, along with Imodium, and it's better. I haven't really made it back to "good," but I did hit functional in time to have about 5 good days before going back in for round 3.

Round 3: That's today! And today went well. I was in at 8 am to do my blood draw, 9 am saw the oncologist to make sure everything was good, and then chemo started at 10. Talked to the doctor and the nurse a lot about my stomach and various options for trying harder to keep it in check this time around, and I'll be better about alerting someone as soon as it's an issue instead of waiting to see if I can fix it on my own. I also asked if there's a possibility of reducing the number of rounds I have left, since neither the doctor nor I can actually find the tumor anymore. Unfortunately, he told me that so far no one has done a study of what happens when these tumors disappear so fast under this combination of drugs, and if there is a recurrence in patients who then reduce the number of rounds they undergo. So medically he can't recommend cutting down on how many rounds I have left. Kind of a bummer, but it just means I need to be that much better about getting these side effects under control.

Chemo itself is easy, really. I sit there and play on my computer or work on hand finishing sewing work, and the drugs just drip along. I was finished a little after four, drove to Harker to pick up C4 from school, and got home just in time to have a lovely dinner delivered by Summer. And now: bed!! Glorious bed.