There’s no way to sugar coat this. My reaction to the third chemo treatment is not going as smoothly as the first two. It has me worried that some of these things I’ve read about chemo side-effects compounding throughout the full course of treatment may be true.

Here’s an update on how things are going after Treatment #3 (of 8).

 

SIDE EFFECTS

NAUSEA – The nausea I’ve mercifully been able to avoid thus far has come on in a big way. To be fair, I’ve not actually vomited (outside of my mouth) yet, but I’m generally feeling mid-grade nauseous throughout each day so far.

This nausea actually set in on Tuesday evening, the very same day of my chemo treatment.  That was especially alarming, since after prior treatments I generally felt 100% fine the first couple days after treatment, and only on days 3-6 would I feel a little mild fatigue.  To have been experiencing such rapid, previously unfelt side effects was worrying.

Now Thursday, I’m still feeling nauseous – and I’m quite anxious for this feeling to go away, as I really don’t like it!  Yesterday, I wasn’t actually able to make it to my computer for work until about 10am as I laid in bed making sure I wasn’t going to puke; I usually aim to start my day between 8-830am.

It would be unfair to say my appetite has gone away, because I’m still hungry throughout the day. But I’m so fearful about what I eat; I don’t want to trigger anything. So my menu the last few days has been crackers, toast, rice, cereal and juices.

Anyways, this side effect is really bumming me out. I hate to sound like a whiner but I’m really hoping this isn’t going to be a recurrent issue.

FATIGUE – This is getting to me in the evenings, most of all. I don’t find it challenging to power through my work day, but I would say by 8pm, I’m just beat. It’s rare that I stay awake past 9pm any longer on a work night.  But this could also be a consequence of the low quality sleep I’ve been getting.  It’s pretty frequent for me to fall asleep by 9pm, wake up at 1am, stay awake until 5am, get back to sleep, then alarms start going off at 7:30am.  Just not getting enough sleep, and once it’s daylight, I just can’t get back to sleep. I’ve always been a terrible napper.

I’ve gotten a prescription sleep aid (Restoril) but that really only helps people ‘fall’ asleep, as opposed to ‘stay’ asleep – which is really my problem. By the time I go up to bed, I’m sometimes so tired that I don’t even remember going to bed at all. But last night I actually did make it through the night sleeping – too bad I had a 7:30am doctor’s appointment with the wound specialist for my thumb.

CONSTIPATION – It looks like this is going to be a constant post-chemo issue. I won’t bore you with the details.

 

PORT UPDATE

The extreme pain that came with the surgical implant of my port has almost completely gone away. It’s only mildly bruised now, and I would have to really try to aggravate the region to impose pain – so that’s pretty easy to avoid. And I’ve managed to stow away 8 of the 16 pain pills they gave me for when it comes out… which brings me to my next topic…

The rest of this isn’t much of an update, per se, more of just something I didn’t realize or think about until I was told about it by the nurse at Chemo on Tuesday.

I guess I just erroneously assumed that I would get my port taken out shortly after treatment was over.  But that’s not the case.

Generally, they suggest that cancer patients keep the port in for at least 6 months following treatment. And some of the things I’m reading online can recommend it be a lot longer, closer to a year.

The reason given by the nurse is that there’s a lot of follow up visits for which it makes sense to draw blood from the port during that time.  But it wasn’t too terribly difficult to read between the lines and realize the obvious: it’s kept in place in case of recurrence. Scary thought, but it makes sense.

I guess it doesn’t really bother me too badly to keep it in, especially since it really does make the most sense to keep it in considering the risk of recurrence (something I simply try to put out of my head).  I suppose the biggest daily inconvenience is that I prefer to sleep on my stomach, and this port makes that impossible.

 

THUMB UPDATE

I had an appointment with a wound specialist this morning to go over my thumb. Honestly, I feel like seeing a wound specialist is a bit overkill for what appears to be a perfectly healing thumb… but what the hell, I’ve met my health insurance deductible for the year so it’s free so why not just be extra secure.

Basically, they said it’s healing well. It’s very red and pink, which they say is good.  They’ve given me a stronger topical cream than Neosporin to put on it, as well as a lot of special wraps (which unlike the Kroger brand are vibrant fun colors – I got hot pink, cerulean and lime green!).  Since I’m still advised not to leave the house without a mask, only my colleagues at BetAmerica get to enjoy these sexy colors on video conference. But I’ll give you a glance.

It’s pretty annoying not having full faculty of my left thumb.  Simple tasks like buttoning my shirt or tying my shoes are suddenly really complicated tasks in need of careful concentration. I’m anxiously awaiting the full return of left thumb.

 

THE PILL SITUATION

So, I’m not sure exactly when this got so out of hand, but I am very thankful this week for the daily pill boxes my mom got for me before I started treatment.  And these aren’t just any pill boxes – there are three separate compartments for times of day each day – all of which are now used, and I could honestly use a fourth compartment per day!

Here’s what I’m now taking on the daily:

Pepcid – Heartburn prevention pill

Antibiotics – Four daily (for the thumb – next 10 days)

Aspirin – Blood thinner for blood clots in right arm

Stool softener – Three daily, as needed

Steroids – For the first few days after each chemo

Restoril – Sleep Aid

And that doesn’t include the mouthwash for the mouth sores, the milk of magnesia (when things get desperate), the infrequent Gas-X, or the topical lotion for my poor thumb.

It takes a LOT of medicine to get me through the day all of the sudden.  I mean, check this out:

 

 

That’s all for now. Hoping to turn the corner on this sicky feeling and get back to being the happy chemo warrior.

Much love!

-Merv