Several people have asked how I've been holding up since I started chemo last Wednesday, so here's an update for you all. Nausea was the news of the day on both Wednesday night and all day Thursday. Some you know that I really do not do nausea well, so that was really unpleasant for me. On the flip side, I never actually got physically ill, so the word on the street is that I have been handling this well as far as sour stomachs are concerned. Note that I am on stronger anti-nausea medications this time around, so I shudder to think what this would be like without those. We can all thank the gods of science for Emend and Aloxi (not to mention Zofran)!
What has probably hit me most is tiredness... no, exhaustion. Exhaustion pure and simple. On both Thursday and Friday I took three naps, and one of them actually took me by surprise. The kids had gone to school and Craig had left for work, and I had (apparently) sat down at the end of the sofa to figure out what I might do next. About an hour and a half later I awoke from a fairly substantial slumber, head nestled on the arm rest of the sofa. This exhaustion has been coupled with a foggy-headedness that I've never experienced before; just a complete feeling of "wha? huh?" swirling around me, and even some occasional lightheadedness. While my tiredness has persisted, it has gotten better as the days have gone by, and I'm not taking daily naps anymore. I'm feeling somewhat weak physically, and a little on the pale side, and Dr. Dad is pretty sure I'm anemic from the chemo. The foggy-headedness is still present, but not too severe.
Aside from the nausea during the first two days, perhaps the most annoying side effect has been a bitter and metallic taste in my mouth that won't seem to go away. I'm hoping that also subsides between now and my next treatment (April 16th), but we'll see. Hard candies help temporarily, but it also affects how things taste to me. This makes wanting to eat a bit more of a challenge than normal for me, but my appetite has improved since Wednesday, so I'm not too worried.
So that's pretty much it. This is not a recipe for productiveness at work, but on the other hand, that's not the point of all of this is it? It's been important for me to remember that when I'm drooling in a stupor on the couch or feeling "urpy" (as the chemo nurse put it the other day), those are symptoms not of disease, but of big-ass bitch slaps. While the first course of chemo and the surgery knocked the cancer out for the count, this is now a process of kicking any remaining cells while they're down.
No mercy.
The first slap
This photo was taken the day after I was diagnosed, and it is my first bitch slap at cancer. I'm the one with the icepack symbolically placed on my boob. My teammates changed our team's uniform to pink at the last minute, and I came off the soccer field that night with one goal and a whole lot of love. Several of these women are my close friends, but they are all warriors, and they all helped me set the tone for this fight.
Remembering that nausea, exhaustion, bitter taste in your mouth, and whatever else might pop up are just some nasty side effects from your extremely powerful bitch slapping is probably not the easiest thing to do while in the middle of it all, but that's all it is! A few more weeks of this and then you're done and you can get back to being productive at work and everything else you want to do. B t w, being a "fogg-head" might actually be a good thing as you may not notice how tired and nauseated you are, and perhaps best of all, you get to experience what it's like to be a "dumb blonde":-) Hang in there Lara!
ReplyDelete