I finished up my first round of chemo, it went pretty well until I stopped. For the first two weeks on the chemo I felt pretty good. Just kinda nauseated at times, but not too bad but I did get a mouth full of sores. On my gums, tongue and a few down my throat. It was pretty crappy and I told Ken I wasn't sure how I was supposed to keep going if this was how I was going to feel. Ken asked the nurse here how many "rounds" of this chemo I do and she said until it stops working or she can't do it anymore. Needless to say I was completely discouraged by this response because I totally felt like crap. Sorry, the week that I have had off has been worse. I have felt like barfing almost the entire week but gravol did help with that. And I have the gross chemo film in my mouth... that is enough to make one want to barf. You seriously can only brush your teeth so many times in a day and then I am sure the toothpaste will be giving me the mouth sores.
Yesterday I had my blood work done. It all came back good, hemoglobin, liver function, neutrophils etc... We should have the tumor marker results by tomorrow - AND I AM PRAYING THAT THEY HAVE GONE DOWN!!! We all are.
Dr told us that the drug combo that I am on is usually very effective. Of course there are people that it doesn't work on, and then there are people that have had quite a long term success with this regime. I hope I am the latter. Dr adjusted my dose, down a little, so that I will be able to tolerate it a bit better. They don't want me to have the mouth sores and such so that is good news, because I was honestly wondering how I was going to do it over and over again if I felt the way I did on the first three weeks.
We also discussed repeat scans and what will happen with that. Dr told us that usually you don't to a repeat CT until three months AFTER your last dose of radiation. So we are looking at June-ish for that. We were told that sometimes after radiation, the tumors can actually get a little bigger with inflammation so you really do need to give it some time for everything to settle down.
Dr asked how I was coming off the Dex. I said I was doing pretty well and told him the dose that I am down to. He said that was good but I had to take it exactly how it is prescribed so that it is best for my body. Ken did tell him that I have been having some headaches which we were told is completely normal for 8-12 weeks after radiation... Also, coming off the dex does create some of those problems, headaches, dizziness etc, that I have been experiencing and Ken, rightfully so being as I was so forthcoming with my symptoms last time, was just trying to make sure that what I have been feeling is normal. I was pleasantly surprised that they symptoms are normal. And they haven't been nearly as bad as they were at Christmas. Just more of a pressure headache if I bend over or again, if I get tired. And then if I am tired, and I haven't napped, then I do have the aura's and that sort of crap, 1,000 pound noggin... you know, normal stuff that everyone gets on a daily basis.
I have been sleeping a lot more these past few weeks. But I chalk that up to chemo and just regular healing. I am so thankful for the help that we have that affords me to be able to sleep most of the day... k, well it's not that bad. But I have upped my hours in our bed! By MYSELF!!! all you perv's out there!
On a totally different note, today I went on a bike ride... granted it was just around the block. I told Ken we should to a test ride before we actually ventured out onto the real road. I almost crashed 3 times before we even got out of the driveway. Ken was laughing, but seriously told me to get off my bike and walk it off the driveway because he didn't want me to scratch his truck. Nice hey!? The downhill part was awesome... going up the hill back to our house was enough of a workout for me. I didn't walk my bike up, mostly out of pride, and there was a guy outside fertilizing his grass and I didn't want him to think I was a loser... my outfit gave me away in that regard. I decided that the phrase "it's like riding a bike" wasn't really true. It most certainly felt as awkward as my first kiss and it didn't help that Ken was totally making fun of me, although, I would have made fun of me if I could have done two things at once. I would usually pride myself because of my ability to "multi task", even though apparently it has been proven (probably by a man - sorry guys!) that your brain can not actually do two things at the same time. Ya, you probably can't deliver a baby and make a stir fry at the same time (gross, why would you do that), but I can talk on the phone and do something at the same time.... Ken can't. Literally, can not do it. So if I could ride my bike and make fun of myself, I would have done it, but I am not that talented... YET!
I am getting stronger. Because you all care so much. If I am down on the floor, I can actually get back up on my Bambi legs with minimal pushing with my hands in front of me. I can also go up the stairs now without holding on. Little victories are huge for me right now, and I count a lot of weird things as another goal that I have met.
I did go for another run a few weeks ago. Ken was working out in the morning and before I left he said, "Just be careful ok." Me in all my positivity said, "Why? What do you think is going to happen to me?" So in my head I am thinking stroke, heart attack, aneurysm... thanks for the morning vote of confidence... All to which he replied, "No. Just be careful. Don't fall down or anything." "Oh. Ok." And I was on my way. I warmed up, downhill with my music and proceeded to jog at "my spot", which is also down hill. I was going along, feeling great and then my left foot felt like it had a little more freedom than my right. Sure enough my shoelace was undone. I was almost to "my spot" where I stopped running, because it goes up a huge arse hill, so I wanted to push myself just that little bit further. Then I heard Ken, "...be careful..." Was this what he was talking about. I could picture myself stepping on my shoelace, and falling down. First thought, how the heck am I supposed to get back up? This was a few weeks ago when I was still pretty weak in the legs. Luckily we live in Cranbrook and this particular route the sidewalks pretty high, so as long as no one was around, I could have rolled off the sidewalk and probably landed on my feet. The other option if I did wipe out was to get onto all fours as I have grown accustomed to, and then get my rear in the air and push myself up and pray that there, once again, no one was around to see this weird, chubby, bald chick, arse up in the air, doing who knows what at 6:50am.
I decided to take Ken's advice and be careful. I stopped and did up my shoelace and double knotted the other one. I was successful and made it home without road rash and a hurt ego... thanks to Ken?? ;)
I know that was a lot to take in. Sorry for all of it. But I thought I should let you know how things are going. I will post when I get my tumor marker results. Hope all is well with you all!! Thanks for your continuous prayers and love. You all mean so much to us... even if we don't know you or know you very well, you are important to us in our lives.
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