Half Way

Another chemo treatment is in the books and I am happy to say that means I am halfway done (with chemo). Lots of folks have asked if this round was any easier.  Well I can tell you it wasn’t any worse – so that is a win in my book.

What have I been doing these last 6 days since my chemo treatment? Other than whining, sweating, and sitting around – not a whole lot.  But seriously, to give you an idea of how my past week went, and to see if you can train this old dog new tricks (spoiler alert, you can), I’ll give you all an update.

Chemo treatments are on Tuesday’s, and other than 4 hours of boredom sitting in a chair it isn’t a “bad” day. They slowed down my second poison to try to alleviate some of the burning sensation in my nose that I felt the first treatment and gave me a nasal spray.  It helped a little but didn’t go away.  What I did discover on this round though is that they have food!!! What. The. Heck? Why aren’t they advertising this? This is like the one day I still feel well enough to eat. So a new trick I discovered is that when I’m getting the drug that causes my nose to burn, eating ice cream (which they have!) seems to do more than anything to help ease the discomfort (or I’m just so happy cuz I’m eating my favorite food that I can better tolerate the pain).  And they have chips and sandwiches and juices, dang – next round I’m taking advantage of those goodies.  But all in all treatment day was good.  I did notice a greater deal of exhaustion by the time I got home, and found myself heading to bed by 630PM. But no emergency stops at my office to use the bathroom (you’re welcome Joslyn, Cheryl and Melissa).

The day after I experienced some flushing again. I forewent taking any Benadryl and it didn’t seem to last as long or be as intense as the first time.  Not sure if my body is better tolerating the steroids they give me (which is the drug causing the flushing reaction) or it’s not taking me by surprise so I’m willing to tolerate this side effect much more. Either way, it happened again, but seemed fairly mild.

On the second day I need to take Nuelesta and this round they hooked up an OBI (on body injector) for the shot.  What this means is I had a flashing green light keeping me up all night attached to my stomach.  And a huge fear that I was going to accidentally rip of this injector before it could give me the drugs the following night.  Needless to say, I didn’t sleep a lot that night.  Was the OBI uncomfortable? Not really.  You could tell it was there but it didn’t hurt, and I was grateful for the fact that I didn’t need to drive the 2 hours back to Lewiston the next day for a two minute shot.  But the green light was a lot brighter than you would think and when I moved the covers off I would see this bright light flash and forget that I was now part android letting me know my energy pack was still good and scare myself.  But as designed, 24 hours after sticking the patch to me, the shot went off without a hitch, the Nuelasta got injected and I was able to remove the patch.

I have come to realize that the chemo isn’t what is making me super sick, its all the medicine they are giving me to offset the effects of chemo. But I did take some lessons learned from round one and applied them this round.  I took laxatives way earlier in the game to offset the problems the anti-nausea medicine causes.  By doing so I was a) able to take a lot less of these meds b) have a lot less extremes in the bathroom and c) am a much happier camper when it came to my stomach.  So this old dog can be taught a few new tricks.  I’m just glad I didn’t have as many problems on that end as the first round.  However, I’m not sure if because I wasn’t so focused on my love/hate relationship with the porcelain throne that I was more aware of the extreme freaking pain in my bones!!! My gawd that shot does a number on my body.  Bone pain in my thighs and hips, even in to my jaw and teeth, then throw in a head ache that isn’t touched by aspirin/Tylenol/advil .  I am so grateful that this house has a hot tub.  Heat is what seems to work best when it comes to alleviating those pains.  I had been advised to take Claritan and Advil (or Tylenol) which I do for a day before and 4 days following. I am terrified to think how bad the pain would be without those pain meds, but with I am still miserable.  In addition, the shot makes me light headed and standing up too quickly adds to my headache.  So those weren’t lessened this round, and again, not sure if I was more aware of them just because I wasn’t as focused on my other issues?  I am going to see about getting much stronger pain medicines for next round, and am wondering if bengay would  help?? Probably not as it isn’t muscle pain, but bone pain – but I guess it is worth a shot.  I have come to realize it lasts about 4 solid days and then it finally seems to break.  So it wasn’t any longer this time, nor any shorter.

I did gain a glorious new side effect.  I now get to experience night sweats.  Yay me!  Yep, chemo has thrown me into early menopause and I get the great experience of spending my night with the windows open (it’s winter in Idaho so outdoor ambient temperature is about 20 degree Fahrenheit at night), 2 fans running (one in the window and one next to the bed) and a humidifier shooting cool air.  Thankfully my husband is part bear so he’s comfortable with this sleeping environment.  But my night goes along the lines of this: start off with the covers on as the bedroom is probably around 50 degrees.  Ten minutes in, kick one leg out.  Minute after that kick my other leg out.  Thirty seconds later toss the covers off completely.  Ten minutes later start to feel normal.  Two minutes after that start to get cold, which gives me a little bit of an upset stomach.  Get up. Go to bathroom.  Come back to bed.  Cold now so I get under the covers shivering.  A minute later hit the perfect temperature and feel wonderful for about 10 minutes before I start the whole process again.  I can tell why women get moody during this “change”, it’s because we are going on lack of sleep! I am also now experiencing this great temperature fluctuation during the daylight hours too.  Ahh, as if cancer wasn’t enough.  Nice one mother nature, nice one!

So another round in the books and not too worse for wear.  I get to start off the New Year with my third round, but on the bright side – the month of January will see the end of my chemo treatments (hopefully).  After that I am off to surgery.  I will write a whole different blog on the internal debates I’m having about that, but for now I will wait until I meet with the surgeon and plastic surgeon in January to decide what to do next.

Thank you everyone for your support, you have been invaluable to my sanity.  I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (and Happy Hanukkah for my Jewish friends and to all those that celebrate other wonderful winter celebrations – such as my personal favorite – winter solstice, which means the start of longer days, a wonderful holiday season to you too).