Cancer Survivor, writing about Health and Fitness as you age

Righto, so when last we left our embattled TheNewMe, she was thinking "Ok - I can deal with this", well, that was cycle 2. After Cycle 3, I have to admit that I had a bit of a rough week, and perhaps more so because I had been feeling so much better (relatively speaking).   I did go into the office more days and I did try and do a bit more, but even so, I was shocked by the level of exhaustion that I felt because it was so unexpected.  Even to the point of going in my bed at 4:00pm when I got home...and staying there. Aside from that, (and I am not sure what was the culprit for this), but I had a lot of aching bones over the course of 3 days.  I don't know if you've ever felt your thigh bones ache, but I believe I have, and I wouldn't recommend it at all.  It might be yet another side effect of the chemotherapy drug that I have only just experienced, but you can be sure I'll be complaining again if I get afflicted by this after the next cycle. Fortunatel

Another late post, so this would be for last week. With this drug I seem to be doing better, which is a relief, I think it is also very reassuring for the kids to know how  I am doing and they can see I have more energy to boss them around and scold them and play and read to them, but mostly the other things. I do have some slightly different side-effects which I am managing but nothing significant. One downside of the reduced feeling of exhaustion is that I am having more difficulty going back to sleep when I wake up in the night..so I am thinking I might have to break the seal on the sleeping pills. Other than that so far so good. I did have one thing that I didn't post on the prior week's message on the first treatment. Because my red blood count is low, I had another injection to boost me up.  That was THE MOST PAINFUL INJECTION I have ever had, and I've had a few. And since the dosage I needed did not come in one syringe, I had to get TWO to make the correct dosa

Well, I am really behind on this post.  This cycle was actually last week. I started a different chemotherapy drug and I am happy to report: Very little nausea with this one, meaning I did not have to bring out the nausea meds that they prescribed for me. Compared with the prior drugs, I'd take my medicine at least 2-3 times per cycle. More energy for sure, but not so much that I can do more than one thing at a time. Especially with heat here being what it is 35C - 41C (95F-105F), just one spin in the car and I am exhausted.  Fortunately, no allergic reaction to the new drug. I had a massive dose of Benadryl, so you can imagine how coherent I was for the rest of the day. Again, it was a very long day since they are always checking for signs of reaction and they provide the dose very slowly. It didn't help that they were checking my blood pressure every 15 minutes so even though I desperately wanted to sleep, the nurse would come over and rouse me. In short, so far so good

And by dichotomy I mean the branch in the road that a person may choose to go in when confronted with any new and/or difficult situation. I also wanted to use this post to address the "You're so strong" comments I've heard time and time again. First up: To tell or keep it under wraps? Clearly I chose to tell and the reason is not as simple as I initially thought. I wanted to let people who are part of my life know why I may not be as accessible as before, why I may look or behave differently. I didn't want any friend to see me with a wig and not know why. Having come from a society that was not as open as I would have wished about situations such as cancer, I felt it important to let my cousins know that I am experiencing this -  if you have questions, ask.  I also think it was important to let people know because having no family that lives in Austin, I might need to lean on my friends here quite a bit more.  Certainly, the best choice is always the one that

Well, this recovery week was the only one where I had to ask Lucas to help get breakfast because I had such a hard time getting going in the morning. Fortunately, Lucas and Liam were very helpful (and successful) in getting themselves their own breakfasts with no spilling or fights. In prior recovery weeks, I felt well enough to go into the office by Wednesday and was usually feeling ok also on Tuesday. This recovery week I couldn't function very well Tuesday morning. After meeting with the nurse on Tuesday and reviewing my blood test results, she explained why I was so knocked out.  While the impact to the white blood cells on the treatment regimen is immediate and significant, the effect on the red blood count is more gradual, so by the 4th cycle, my red blood count had reached sufficiently low to make me feel wiped out and dizzy when standing. Nice.  By weekend again I started to perk up. So how bad was chemo?  On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being worst, I feel that most tim

This marks the end of the first set of chemotherapy drugs - I've reached a milestone!  One hurdle out of the way and on to the next. In two weeks time I start another round of chemo with a different drug and I am hopeful that I'll be able to tolerate that as well. When the treatment starts, it will be weekly for 12 weeks - that is, if I am able to take the treatments for the full 12 cycles. This week has been a little longer to pass than others, I've had to take more nausea meds than in previous cycles, but I have crossed this bridge. So this is what I look like now, getting #4 - a little pale, but still in relatively good shape.