I’m now in my seventh day of treatment – my sixth full day after chemo. And I am again happy to report that I am mostly feeling good!

I did decide to call in for reinforcements today for some of the more nagging side effects I’ve been facing. I’m lucky that Dr. Stevens’ office is quick to listen to my side effects and quickly prescribe remedies.

Side Effects

Mouth Pain – This has leapt to the top of the list, as it’s the only one seeming to get worse as time goes by, instead of better. At the recommendation of the oncologist, I went to see a dentist prior to chemo. However, I suspect that the dentist did too much work too close to chemo. They actually did deep scaling cleaning on both sides of my mouth – including one side the day before chemo. It’s these areas (where my gums meet my teeth, and the exact spots where they injected my mouth with the numbing agent towards the back of my mouth) that are now turning into painful sores. I think the mouth just didn’t have time to heal, and now it’s not able to properly heal. So I’m left with pain.

They prescribed me an anti-fungal mouthwash with lidocaine. So it provides instant relief (I couldn’t wait to swish it around – as soon as I got to the car in the Kroger parking lot, I was swishing) and it’s also supposed to heal the wounds. I am really hopeful this is just a onetime thing, and not something which happens after ever chemo treatment.  The mouthwash was $50. Yuck.

Fatigue – It turns out I am not superman, and the fatigue set in this weekend. It wasn’t completely overwhelming, but I was extremely content to be extremely lazy all weekend. I barely left the futon, which led to Luis and I watching the full first season of The OA on Netflix (it’s okay but not great). But I was back to work today with a full day, not feeling too tired. I went to lie down for about 30 minutes after lunch just playing on my phone, but that’s it. I’ve never been very good at napping.

Acid Reflux – This continued to bedevil me all weekend, but today is actually my best day of acid reflux since chemo day, so I’m optimistic that things are turning around. Nevertheless, I did ask for a remedy from the oncologist and they recommended I pick up some Pepcid, which is over the counter. So I went to Kroger and I had two options: 25 capsules of 20mg brand name Pepcid for $12, or 50 capsules of 20mg generic brand for $4. Obviously, I went with the latter. I hope that was a good call.

Constipation – I’m a little backed up. I’ll just leave it at that.

Current chemo mood:

Still no nausea. Although the Milk of Magnesia really puts that to the test.

New Plants

My aunt Marilyn came over this afternoon and brought Luis and me some new plants for the bedroom. Apparently, they are supposed to help me sleep and purify the air.  One is an Aloe Vera plant, and the other is an Exotic Angel plant.  The Aloe Vera is for help sleeping, while the Exotic Angel plant purifies the air.

She was also seeking some lavender, but that’s not in season. Instead, I have a lavender scented candle. I’ll take it!

I’ve been taking my Phenergan (anti-nausea medicine) for sleep. Hopefully these plants will do the thing and help me get some quality sleep!  Thanks, Marilyn!

Next Appointments

Still nothing until next chemo, scheduled for Tuesday, January 24 – a week from tomorrow. In the meantime, I’m enjoying my “off” week. And I’m looking forward to my short business trip this weekend to Florida, which has been officially approved by my family oncologist, Arturo.

Much Love,

-Merv