Hey all… It’s Saturday. A day when my honey and I can hang together a bit more…. even though she is still the energizer bunny taking care of the house, the grounds, the shopping, the cleaning, the loads to the dump, and me. She gave me a haircut today. I was overdue. Getting kind of fuzzy on top. She said it was a bit thinner than last time… maybe this round of chemo is going to take a bit more hair off the top… can’t tell yet. It’s usually a delayed thing. For now I’m sportin’ the usual shorty baldy look. I kind of like it actually. So easy to take care of. One tiny drop of shampoo does the whole head. I probably won’t need another cut for a week or so… Mom will hook me up when I need it when she’s staying with me I’m sure.
I’m a tad tired today. Just still dealing with the after effects. It goes in waves. I at least got on the treadmill this morning for 15 minutes. Not a super long time, but at least I got on there. That’s earlier than I did last time I got out of the hospital. It just felt good to move a little. I may get on there again tonight for another 15… have to see how I’m doing. It’s sometimes a moment by moment thing.
So Karen and I, based on last time, are thinking I should be heading toward neutropenia again pretty soon. Probably by Monday or so… which would be 10 days from the day I started the last treatment. It was about that last time… maybe a couple of days longer. Time to make sure there are no fresh veggies and no people with colds around… It’s a roller coaster. Just like the doc said… take you down, then build you up, just to take you down again. All I can think of is that I only have one more consolidation round… and it’s only two days. Granted it’s back up to full strength of the chemo, but only two days. The first round… the induction, I had full strength for four days, every other day. This last time I had a different med at about two thirds full strength for five days straight. And now I’m rambling…
For now… it’s Saturday… and I got a haircut. One day, one thing, at a time.
Hang in there~ I had my first round of consolidation chemo last week, finished up on Friday. I am tired and a little queasy feeling. I don’t want to take the medication I was given for nausea because last time I took it all I wanted to do was sleep. I was able to help put in hay on Saturday, but I was pretty tired after the first wagonload. Now to just wait and hope and pray my WBC does not drop too much. My youngest son who is 17 started school this past week and came home with a cold! I really don’t need to catch that.
Melissa… I’m totally hanging in there. Thanks for the note! Hauling hay eh? Pretty good. I’m doing my consolidation rounds in the hospital… was in for five days this last time. It’s the second round, so it was Mitoxantrone instead of idarubicin. My doc warned there might be more nausea with this one. There has been a bit, but not that bad. I don’t really take much for it. The worst has been the irritation to my throat. Makes it sort of raw. Like having the sores in my throat instead of my mouth, and the acid stomach. Nothing a little maalox and magic mouth wash can’t cure. As for the nausea… I sometimes take and Ativan for it, but not all the time. Sometimes I just ride out the queasiness of it all. I’m keeping on keeping on. Moving through and keeping a positive attitude. We shall see how the numbers go this time, but if it holds true to the last consolidation round I will be neutropenic again soon, if not already. You take care of yourself and say no to colds!