Skip to main content

Week 5

This week is recovery week in preparation for cycle 3 next week.  So what has the week been like?
  1. Fear factor increasing. You know, now that I'm over the diagnosis and the optimism of actively working on treatment, I start wondering, "If I don't have horrible side effects, does it mean that the drugs aren't working?" What about, "I don't feel anything changing, is it making a difference?" and most recently, "I've been infection free this past month, can I make it through the remaining 4 months?"  Naturally paranoia is also on the rise.Must. Keep. It. In. Check.
  2. Generally felt ok, and I know because I don't fall asleep sitting up at 8:00pm at night - that's my gauge.  Went in to work a couple of days, and those are usually long days, but I am very happy to go in when I am able to. I get a chance to have a conversation with my colleagues about...work and not other things. That's good for me, because that's what it's all about - me.  Being useful doesn't hurt either.
  3. Observed something interesting. Because I am functioning pretty well, even though I am going through chemo, my children expect me to fight with them as normal (apparently my bald head isn't enough of a clue that something isn't right with Mama).  I recall last year (the-year-of-G's-surgeries), G was left alone because he had the necessary accoutrements and behaviour - laying in bed, feet up, bandages, etc.  I need to get on that bandages thing. 
  4. On the upside, I was able to play with my cherub for his birthday!! Eventually I had to insist on getting pictures since nobody (G) thought to get me pics with cherub.  He had a blast and now we have even more weapons at our house (a mace, 2 battle axes, and a sword and shield). For our existing weapons, check this out.
  5. I did wonder this week,  if by any chance these powerful chemo drugs could also kill what is causing my vitiligo because that is spreading.  It's a shame because as a West Indian, I speak with my hands and it is so noticeable on my hands, even colleagues who have seen it for a while appear distracted now when I am talking. That's a bummer, but if chemo drugs worked on this, that would be a most awesome two-fer!!
Onward to cycle 3, Week 6!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 20, Cycles 11,12 of 12: Not Happening

This week the oncologist felt that I had done enough chemo- I was not going to get Cycle 11 and Cycle 12.  I've talked before about the effects of the chemo on my fingers, but you know it is a sad situation when you knot your pyjama bottoms and then can't untie it to go to the bathroom. No more chemotherapy for me. Yay?  Yes, a bit of an anti-climax, but I still get to ring the "end-of-chemo" bell and get confetti thrown on me by my chemo nurses. My doctor also had in her hand the results of my post-chemotherapy MRI and it showed that there was a reduction in the tumour, it looked less dense than before and above all it looks like the volume of the tumour decreased by about 75%. Yay to that for sure! Considering I didn't feel that anything was changing I was very happy about the result. Next on my list: surgery. She said that although my blood counts are low in some areas, she felt that if I wanted to have surgery that day, I was well enough to do it. Me? We
8 comments
Read more

Talking with Lucas on climate change

This is my post for Blog Action Day . This is an annual event where bloggers everywhere in the world post about the same issue on the same day to spark discussion around an issue of global importance. This is part of a conversation I had with my 8-year old. Mama : Do you know what climate change means? Lucas : I think it means when it is like 90F and it is hot.   And the change? It's when in the daytime it might be 90F and sunny and hot, and then you go inside for dinner and then right after dinner and it might have dropped to 70F Well, yes it is that in a way.  That describes what is happening in your area, but when people use the term "climate change" they really mean something more global, like affecting climate around the world Have you heard of the team "global warming"? What global warming is that it is made up of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and when they burn stuff the smoke releases CO2 and it's like a blanket covering the earth and if it k
9 comments
Read more

Cancer by the numbers 2 of 4: That grocery bill

This is the second "Cancer by the Numbers" post, the first was about blood counts . We have been trying to eat organic fruits and vegetables as much as we can, to reduce the pesticide levels we injest. I will publish another post about cancer and food, but for now I thought I'd share the cost of organic vs not organic based on a quick poll of my local grocery (HEB).  We had cut out meat prior to my diagnosis of cancer (ever since reading The China Study ) so perhaps the decline in spending in meat is offset by the more pricey organic items! The graph below shows the increase, as a percentage of the non-organic price, that I pay for common items that I buy. While the actual dollar amounts may not be significant individually, I can tell you that I really feel it on my grocery bill when I buy blueberries! If you feel you want to buy organic, but want to spend the dollars on those items where it makes a difference, take a look at the  Environmental Working
5 comments
Read more