On the way back

Vaccuumed the whole downstairs AND cleaned the bathroom.... without taking any breaks!  Yay!

Sigh.

MY LEGS HURT, GOD DAMNIT!!!!

After days of aches and pains, and berating myself for being a lazy yoga practitioner and not stretching enough in general, it occurred to me: Bone pain is an expected side effect of taxol.

Will call Monday seeking pharmaceutical relief.

And will start yoga and qi gong twice a day from here out.

Taxol 2

Hemo now over 9. Yay!

Second taxol went well, though it lasted about 4 hours. Extra meds beforehand, no allergic reaction during. Can I start counting days now?

Won't need the nanny past the first week of Jan., but she may be here til this is all over... mid-March.

Whew.

Hemo now 8.3, so I think we'll skip the transfusion this weekend.

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!