Side Effects Update

Thursday:

Have I told you lately that I really don’t like IV’s?  Well, I’ve had two this week so far, (not as bad as the 3+/week in January.)  My ride in the MRI machine was nothing if not loud and shaky.  Thank heaven they gave me a free pair of earplugs.  Hmmm, they might be included when I get the bill.  Dang, oh well, earplugs are cheap right?  Right then, the ride.  So, I suspect I was in the machine for about 20 minutes total with the ka-chunk-ka-chunk-ka-chunking and the shake-shake-shaking.  The darn thing would pause for a minute and start up again and I’d twitch again.  It was a bit uncomfortable in that tube, but I closed my eyes and tried to imagine relaxing in a lovely meadow.  It didn’t work, but I kept trying..  The contrast for my second ride was friggen cold, I think they had just taken it out of the refrigerator.  I am happy to report that I got a pre-warmed blanket for the ride.  That was the best part of any MRI as that room has to be kept really cold to keep the machine from overheating.

After my ride in the very loud & shaky machine the nurse removed my IV, (Yay!) and the room didn’t completely spin when I stood up.  I’m taking that as a very good sign.  Getting up too quickly still makes me woozy so I try to move slowly while the earth evens out beneath my feet.  It is getting better and there is no headache today.  Woo-Hooo! 

Not a long missive, but there you go.  More info will be forthcoming when I get the news from the Medical College of VA this afternoon.

Friday after work, but before treatment, I went to a barber to have my head shaved, like a real shave.  I had no idea how luxurious getting shaved was.  I got to pick out the shaving cream by scent.  The gentleman warmed it and applied it to my head.  Man that felt luscious, then he applied a hot towel, again wow!  Then after a few minutes to let my head soak in the goodness he put on some more shaving cream and shaved my head.  Talk about sexy!  I have a beautiful cranium.  Now I know how my brother’s feel, and it is good!

This was the best weekend I’ve had in months!  I felt so good I grabbed my camera and went out into the world.  I didn’t manage to take any pictures, but I did have some fun.  I had breakfast Saturday morning – Bacon waffles = yum!  Then I went shopping with my very good friend Mary Bergman.  She has an eye for jewelry in pawn shops.  I splurged and got myself a ruby necklace.  I probably spent too much money, but I love it!  Now I just need a bracelet to match.  Next time.

Saturday I went and saw my friend Karen & have a beer.  God I’ve missed her!  I even managed to get some puppy loving in.  What a joy to be out in the world.  Then I went home and relaxed in a nice warm tub with some salts & heavenly scents before bed. 

I hope your weekend was as nice as mine.  I am going to savor it as I'll probably be back on treatment tonight.  It'll be tough, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy.

love and hugs to all!

blk

More side effects? I Decline, thankyouverymuch.

A short update for your Wednesday.  I know I’ve been remiss in my updates.  I hope to get on that again soon, like now actually.  My brain isn’t firing on all cylinders today so I thought I’d ramble on e-mail for a bit.  Maybe I can get it to wake up and fire up a few cylinders in the process.

I do love my Dr. & his sense of humor.  We had a lovely exchange Monday morning.  His sense of humor only goes so far though.  I am scheduled for an MRI of my brain tomorrow morning.  I had a whopper of a headache yesterday, it kept me home from work.  That got them worrying along with the dizzy spells, hence the MRI.  I’ll have yet more proof that I do in fact have a brain – Yay!  Though it has been confirmed in several scans thus far, it is always nice to have confirmed again, and again. 

I had a few really good weeks, meaning low side effects.  Then over the weekend I started having dizzy spells.  This isn’t normal for me unless I have some kind of inner ear thing going on, so I mentioned it to my Dr.  They say laughter is the best medicine, I tend to agree with that notion, thankfully so do my medical providers.  We try to joke when we meet.  Monday they said I looked pale so they gave me a Liter of fluids while I waited for my treatment.  I tried to drink water yesterday, I probably still didn’t drink enough.  Hell, I was in the bathroom half of the day so maybe I did get enough. 

Monday’s treatment was a little rough.  I hadn’t had the full gambit of side effects since May so it was a bit of a surprise when the chills started.  The fever hit around 11:30 or so but it only went as high as 101.4^oF.  I texted in my temp anyway.  My nurse likes to get texts from me when exciting things happen.

Work has been incredibly supportive of my treatment thus far, thank heaven!  They are working to make sure I don’t do overtime.  Honestly I don’t think I’ve put in a full 40 in months.  I try to work extra on Tuesday & Thursdays to make up some of the time, but my energy hasn’t been up enough to do so.  I imagine I’ll be using the rest of my vacation time to finish out treatment.  It’ll suck, but that’s life.  Here’s hoping I won’t have any more crazy side effects showing up for the next 5.5 months.  I’m going to take my lesson in all of this as: don’t get cancer – again!

Other than that, I think I’m doing pretty well.  I’m still sporting no hair, though it needs trimmed.  I’ve spent the last few weeks feeling incredibly lazy and it is about 3/16” long.  I still look foxy fine!  Yeah, that might be a bit of an over statement, but I feel pretty good about my lack of hair.  I managed to find a nice & inexpensive pair of big gold hoop earrings to go with my lack of hair.  Andrea sent me the best soft fuzzy brown hat on the planet.  It kind of makes me look like I have hair.  Maybe I’ll get a photo to include in this missive so you can see how awesome I look.  Feel free to give a good chuckle. 

First time bald @ Irish festival with the Bergman family.  You know you have an awesome best friend when she shave’s her head with you.  I think we look fabulous!

I love this photo & think it needs to go on my wall.  Mary – Thoughts?  That was an awesome day! 

This is with a smidgen of hair.  I’m not usually photogenic so forgive the face.  Yes, I do need to trim my hair back down to the scalp.  I really like the no hair look & it is so freakin easy.  A small bottle of shampoo lasts & lasts.  Yes, I need a trim.

Further updates since I wrote the above missive..  I was denied treatment today as they are concerned about toxicity.  They want to see what is up with the MRI tomorrow, then we will resume treatment Friday, I hope.  This means Friday’s treatment will be full of SUCK!  Having 3 days off can be painful.  I’m hoping it won’t be as painful as the 5 days off I had in May or the 5 days I'll have off for Labor Day.  I tried to convince them to continue, but they said no.  The dizzy thing was worrisome.  My other nurse, Jane, said she would call me tomorrow, or have Dr. Pok call me tomorrow.  Someone will call me tomorrow.

Ah well!  Such is life I suppose.  Now for a nap!

Be well my friends,
blk