WOKE UP FEELING GOOOOOOD TODAY!!!

The hives finally subsided Wednesday and by Thursday, I was waking up clean.  Fortunately, I didn't have anything to do so I just took my anti-anxiety meds in the morning with a cup of coffee to get it going, sat out in the shade with Scatter and rubbed some lotion on my legs.  Read cooking magazines, ripped out good recipes, shopped, cooked some bitchen grub and went into the office daily but about 1:00 and only for a couple hours.  I think that's going to be my new routine. 

I had to go into the institute Tuesday afternoon for a blood draw.  I asked the nurse what would have caused the hives and she said chemo doesn't cause hives.  Well, so much for that. 

My next appt with the oncologist is Friday, 9/17.  I have an appt with Chris the trainer on Thursday, the day before.  I may very well push the envelope and punch that punching bag again on Thursday.  Then, if that caused the stirring up inside which caused the hives, I'll be able to see the oncologist, don't know why that matters..   I just think it was the sirring up from the activity on post-chemo week.  And, that chemo does cause a lot of stuff; what the heck does that nurse know. 

My gut feeling is, post-chemo week should be laid low, low energy output.  Mid-chemo week, the energy can start to accelerate and by the end of mid-chemo week, coffee tastes good and I can breathe again.  Pre-chemo week it's kick-ass time.  That's next week.  Yay!!!!!

Saturday, 9/4, was BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD, BAAAAD!

It just got worse from Friday afternoon on.

About 5:00 Friday, after the movie and before dinner, I started developing rashes, hives, welts, spots. I blew it off and went to our favorite Mexican restaurant. By the time we got home, I was miserable. Fred pulled out all his medicines and one seemed to work. Then I took a Benedryl capspule, drank some Benedryl cough syrup and by the morning was okay to go to 24 Hour. The workout seemed to sweat out a lot of stuff.

This workout was, as promised by Chris the trainer, about 20 minutes on a punching bag. He tought me how to hold my hands in the gloves and where to punch. Get this, by the time I had to sign out for the day, my right hand for signing was smooth. The tingling on the fingers wasn't there. We decided to make it part of the workout. It's more exhausting than the regular workout but it seems to get blood flowing in the hands.

So many of the exercises are hanging onto grips but the punching bag is just plowing the heck out of whatever is on my mind. He makes me do it for a full minute then stop for a couple minutes. He keeps yelling, "harder, harder, harder, I want to see a hole in that bag." So, I punch and punch in 3's. I understand why professionals wind up hugging the bag. At about 45 seconds, I'm hugging the bag. I think he may be onto something that benefits Chemo Hands. We're going to work on it some more.Chemo hands are tingly, weird feeling finger tips that have a hard time buttoning clothes and just being in general on-target. The results of this exercise blew us both away.

Back to Saturday hives. After returning home from 24 Hour, at about 11Am, I did my usual sit down and eat a couple containers of watermelon. Then some leftover enchilada. The hives started coming back. My inner thies were just one big blister. It kept spreading into my armpits, back of my knees. I decided to go to one of the walk-in emergency clinics. After about an hour and a half of waiting, I finally got in. By the time I was seen, my whole back was one big hive, all the way around my sides, down my bum, all over the legs, the stomach, ears. I was sitting in that doctor's waiting room acting like a nut in "One Flew Over the Coocoo's Nest." I got a Steriod shot in the left rear cheek, picked up 3 more prescriptions. My prescription list is starting to look like the Constitution. Fortunately, they come and go. One is for more Prednisone, which I just finished 8/1. One is for an anti-histamine and one is for some stomach acid. Blah, blah, blah. I'm quite sure it's the Tatotere that I'm probably allergic to. All this was recorded by the Dr on duty at the Nevada Cancer Institute and was sent to my oncologist who I'll probably hear from on Tuesday.

This morning, Sunday, the hives were on my knees, legs, feet, and a tiny bit on my face. Thanks to Fred, he went out last night and got some Caladryl Clear which seems to work. It's taken a couple hours but my knees and feet have cleared up.

I don't know what the result of this will be when the 3-day weekend is over but I'm expecting to either have the Taxotere dosage dropped again, or just be on steroids and prednisone till the chemo treatment is done.

I also don't know why I cannot get these paragraphs to have a simple space between them.

Feeling Pretty Good Today, so far.....

Even last night, after the Neulasta shot, I felt pretty regular. No sore muscles, no chills, no weakness. I cooked spaghetti - it wasn't all that good but I got the job done.

Yesterday, I took the last two Steroid pills in the morning and at noon, and had the balls to stop by Starbucks after the Neulasta shot. The Java Chip Frappuccino mixed with the Steroids probably put me into the stratosphere and I overshot the flu-like symptoms. I went back to work and everything was fine. Just wired to the hilt. Kind of like the 60's. Slept fine, of course with help from the drugs they give me.

I'll skip Dr Milne's vitamin drip this time around. One of the ladies in Pilates class told me about Trader Joe's "Emergen-C", many flavors in packets. 24 nutrients with antioxidants and electrolytes and 7 B vitamins. I'll start taking it after the last treatment (10/11). She went through chemo too, and said this stuff boosts her imune system and she feels great. It's cheaper than Dr Milne's vitamin drip too.

We'll see how long this nice feeling lasts. I may need another Frappuccino to keep it going.

Treatment # Four

Well, here we are, back at the Nevada Cancer Institute. I don't know who these people are. I've already had the Benedryl drip baggie so I feel a little groggy. They also give me Steriods which toss in some fidgetyness. I can hear the Taxotere drip, drip, drip. It'll take about an hour, then the Cytoxin will do it's drip for an hour. They, they give me a drip bag of saline solution I would assume to clean out everything

There is a hose that goes from the Port in my arm all the way up the arm and down into my chest. That's the part they have to clean out. This is just not a pretty thing.

Since it was a hop-skip-and-a-jump from treatment #3 to #4, I would assume it's going to go pretty fast from here on out. The nurse sat with me during the Benedryl drip and asked a slew of questions, I think it was to see if I'm having any of the symptoms on their list of symptoms. I haven't been sick yet, haven't had the tingling fingers or toes yet. Had the diarrhea a few times but learned what to stay away from. Really, just the lack of energy, highly emotional, nightmares, anxiety, fear, all the head-trip stuff. That will go away, or maybe I've just always been that way.

I haven't shaved my head. I wanted to see what is going on, all the way through this. The nurse was surprised I still have hair. What hair is still there is growing. I'll have to trim it at some point. I also have eyebrows which surprised her. The main eyebrows are there, I just have to fill in the ends. A Nordstroms Clinique sales lady taught me how to do that so it looks natural. She also showed me how to line the eyes in "blue" of all colors, but it works during chemo. We got smart and cooked a pile of BBQ ribs last night. Should last a while. Fred should have something to eat for a few says.

This was a Good Week (3rd week always is)

Every day was enjoyable.

Hardly passed a Starbucks without stopping. I discovered Starbucks has potato chips. They're the best. My new favorite thing is a Java Chip Frappuccino with a bag of potato chips. It doesn't seem to cause any plumbing problems. It won't work next week, maybe not even the week after, but when the third week comes, I'm back in the saddle.

This is How I Felt Yesterday

I crashed about 3PM. Just couldn't put on the wig and go out into the heat to a grocery store, fight the "for perception" stockboys with their big rolling carts piled with crates of produce, filling the peppers, potatoes, lettuce - just at the time the crowd comes in on a Sunday and can't get their shopping carts down the aisles. Then come home, put things away, wash produce, prepare a meal - I just couldn't do it anymore. I decided to let it all go in the name of laying on the couch and cuddling Scatter Cat. Nothing seemed as important as cuddling Scatter Cat. So we layed on the couch and cuddled. My wonderful Fred went to Smiths and got what we needed for dinner Monday and Tuesday, then went to El Polo Loco and got dinner for Sunday. So there, drama over. Sundays have always been too much. It's a marathon and I never enjoy the dinner because I'm exhausted. The exhaustion with my friend Chemo is different. It involves way too much emotion. I was crying in the shower because I didn't want to put on the wig and battle the heat, etc. I just wanted to cuddle Scatter Cat. Something hit me at that moment. If I continued to cry in the shower, I could lose my balance, fall, break a hip and be in a real fix. Or, I could stop crying in the shower, get out, get dressed - it only takes a few minutes now that I don't have hair to coif, then grab Scat Cat and go downstairs and lay on the couch. So, that's what I did and we soaked up each others goo. No more crying in the shower. That's where mental light bulbs occur. There will be many more, I'm sure.

We're All Just a Bunch of Lab Rats

I'll find out Friday if getting the 2-hour blasts of vitamins/amino acids/minerals will be a problem or not. My guess is they'll say......."Wellllll, we really don't know - there haven't been any tests done." I'm of the opinion that there are two ways to receive chemotherapy. 1) At some shit-hole where they just do to you what they did to the last guy, over and over and over. 2) At a research institute where they just use you to gather data, they're data gatherers.

I've received several responses to my plea for information about my vitamin blasts. They're from both camps - - - - 1) Don't mess with the chemo - let it do it's job, stay off as many vitamins as you can till it's done. 2) Chemo is estrogen sensitive (which is why I am going through this now).

It will be very interesting to see if my Oncologist has anything to say.

Fred's grandson, Shaun, told me to ask the Oncologist to ask the Pharmacist who mixes the cocktail if the vitamin blasts would interfere with either of the chemo's. I thought that was brilliant and will ask on Friday.