On the way back

Hair stopped falling out last week, in case I didn't mention it. Even if I don't get it back til spring, this makes me Incredibly Happy.

Transfusion

Well, THAT was fun. Hemo was 6.9, is now 8.3, and normal is 14. So, it doesn't look as though taxol will be such a walk in the park after all. Plus, my fingers are swollen, hurt when I bend them, and are extremely sensitive to heat... which the oncologist who did rounds today said he'd seen before with taxol. I can't imagine what I'll do with all the time I'd have otherwise spent knitting. Plus, my tongue is starting to have 'issues.'

The good news is that I think the anemia will be able to be managed -- or at least monitored -- locally by my GP. The bad news is that the anemia (a.k.a., exhaustion) looks like it's going to take some serious wind out of me over the next few months.  Waiting to hear what the oncologist has to say on Monday about all this.

Taxol - a mixed bag

Had an allergic reaction to this one about 10 minutes in, which wasn't fun. But they shot me up with benadryl and hydrocortisone and I slept through the rest of it. I'm "extremely" anemic (didn't ask for the number), which accounts for recent dizziness, shortness of breath, and exhaustion.... but they think my numbers will go up from here, so they're not scheduling a transfusion. Yet. Need to recheck blood counts on Tuesday.

On the bright side, this is supposed to be a much kinder, gentler drug than the two I've been on.

My helpful and dear friend visiting from California this week is being calm and useful. I'm so grateful!

Is it just me?

... or does the entire Whole Foods store in River Forest smell like a cross between a Rush Street alley garbage bin after midnight and an abbatoir?  Oh, riiiiight...... it's just me.

I swore I wouldn't whine like this. Blood counts are low at this point in the cycle, which doesn't help anything. Cumulative effects of cytoxan and adriamycin have finally rolled me into a ball of misery. I am grateful that it took this long, and that the end of these miserable drugs is near.

Treatment only gets ... er, less miserable from here on out.

Ugh.

Let's see now... Dizziness, shortness of breath, exhaustion, hot flashes, nausea. What fun. Could be anemia, could be dehydration, could be low blood count. Could be premature old age, I suppose. But I doubt it.

Taxol had better be as symptom-free as advertised.. aside from the numb fingers and toes. Frankly, that sounds like heaven to me about now.

Halfway there

...to the end of chemo, that is.

My uncle gently reminded me, in the context of annoying side effects, to consider the larger picture. And he was right. This misery will pass soon, hopefully forever. The hair, as the toddler reminds me constantly, will grow back. The cancer, ideally, will not.  Thanks, Trog.

In other news, I greatly anticipate picking up a prescription for artificial tears. One tricky thing about chemo is that one tends to diagnose annoying but ultimately harmless maladies as "something else"... rather than checking with oncology to see whether they can be fixed. Pays to be a hypochondriac in this situation.