Today is the 4th day after chemo treatment, and I'm still in the downward spiral of the side effects. I describe it as the downward spiral because my symptoms increase for a few days, and then they begin to subside. At the peak of them, I am experiencing the waves of pain and I feel more nauseous. For the waves of pain, I've taken some acetaminophen, and it appears to helping a little. I don't plan on taking it regularly, but I decided to try a little of it to see if it eases any of the pain waves, and it did help a little. I am also staying on top of the nausea medication so that I don't have any severe nausea. I am blessed enough to say that I haven't had any vomiting, up to this point. Th

I woke early and started on my morning medications. As I start moving around, I could feel the fatigue, so I knew once I took everything, I would be headed back to bed. No pain during the morning session, so that’s a good thing. The challenge this morning was just making sure to log everything... Then I’m headed back to bed. One of the challenges with the days that I have severe fatigue is that it’s hard to keep track of my fluid intake. Since I have to drink between 2 – 3 quarts of fluids a day, I try to gauge it based on 16 ounce bottles. If I drink at least 4 of them, I know I’m on the right track. I wake up around lunch time, so that’s perfect timing for the noon regimen. Still no pain,

Up early to start the medication regimen. Nausea medication, steroids, peripheral neuropathy prevention, supplements, breakfast. Whew! That’s a lot! And that’s just the morning round! I am so thankful to one of my co-workers who gave me an organized binder to keep track of everything. Because of her, I have a log to track all of my medications to ensure that I don’t miss anything. There is NO way I would be able to keep up with all of this. The afternoon regimen is not as intense because I’m taking less medications, but the intense hunger that I feel throughout the day is serious! I know it’s because of the steroids, but man! Every time I look up I’m wanting to eat. And, of course, the major

Chemo Treatment # 2 My 2nd chemo treatment is scheduled for today. I didn’t sleep well last night because I was anxious about the results of my blood work. I know if my blood work is not good, it will delay my treatment. After tossing and turning for the majority of the night, I realize I am supposed to be praying that all is well with it, instead of worrying about it. I wish I had had that revelation hours ago! I began to pray, and before I know it, I've finally dozed off to sleep. Since last week, I have lost a lot more hair. It’s not really bothering me, but I will wear a bandana to treatment because the missing patches look strange. When we arrive and sign in, I look around and see sever

Everything has been pretty uneventful for the past week. Once I got over the pain from the shot, I’ve mainly been resting and helping out with chores, as much as I can. My energy level is definitely not what it used to be, but I still try. I’m eating the foods that I can taste—which turns out to be a lot of Mexican food. :) Yay me! I’m still trying to be aware of eating right, but sometimes (most times) I lose out to flavors... I can certainly understand why it's hard to eat when you can't taste your food. Today we are getting prepared for Thanksgiving Day. I received the results of my blood work yesterday, and my white blood cell counts are back up, so I won’t be isolated to staying home. T

Today I have the appointment with the PA. I am taking this opportunity to ask questions that didn’t seem serious enough to call into the office, but things that I felt like I needed to know. Samples of these questions are: How long do I need to monitor a low-grade fever (under 100 degrees) before I take something for it? Is it okay to take something for it? What can I take for heartburn? I know I could have called into the office to ask these questions, but I didn’t want to “bother” anyone with these questions, since everything appeared to be going fine. These were just a few things that I felt could wait until my appointment because they weren't anything that I had to know immediately. Had

7th Day after Chemo Energy levels today are pretty good. The waves have subsided drastically. There are definitely fewer of them, and the time span between them has significantly increased. This feels like the upswing stage of the chemo treatment. It’s a little too cold outside to go for a much desired walk, so I’ll have to settle for doing a little more housework. Since I had good luck with the taste of the smoothie yesterday, I’ll have another one for breakfast. Throughout the day, I’ll test a few other things to see what I can and cannot taste. I’m attempting to stay away from sugary foods as much as possible, so I will be looking at this as my latest adventure. As I am preparing myself f

6th Day after Chemo Today I find myself awake more. The waves are still coming, but they do appear to be shorter, and there is definitely more time in between them. This gives me more opportunity to evaluate how I’m feeling—physically. I want to move around more, so I begin to do a little housework. Nothing too strenuous, but just enough to get me going. My research of the "rash" instructs me to keep it moisturized. Of course I don't have any unscented lotion. That would be too easy, right? For now, I'll just use a little Vaseline, until I can get some unscented lotion. At least the itching is gone for now. As lunchtime rolls around, I am grateful that my daughter made me homemade chicken so

5th Day after Chemo After innumerable sleep and wake cycles, I am very cognizant of waves… Waves of pain… Only it doesn’t really feel like any pain I’ve experienced before. And it doesn’t really “hurt”… The only description that I can give, right now, is that it feels like euphoria in reverse. I am very aware of “feeling”, but I can’t describe what I’m feeling. The reason I’m trying so desperately to describe it is because, throughout this whole process, I wanted to know what to expect, so I could describe it to other people. From the beginning of my diagnosis, I’ve only wanted to help other people understand what to expect, in hopes that it could help ease some of their anxiety. So, my next

3rd Day after Chemo I didn’t write about the 2nd day after chemo because it was basically a repeat of the 1st day. I still didn’t have any strong symptoms, and I continued with the preventive nausea medications. I rested a little more, but all in all, it was a pretty simple day like the 1st day. The only notable thing was that I couldn’t get enough to eat. It seemed like I was hungry CONSTANTLY. Today, however, I’m feeling a little more nauseous. And more tired than I have been in the past few days. I’ve found myself, on quite a few occasions, dosing off. Through the sleepiness, I’m taking the time to appreciate all of the people in my life who are checking on me and praying for me. I strong

1st Day after Chemo I wake up today looking for any symptoms that the chemo medication is in my body. I’m feeling a little tingling in my fingers and toes and a very little nausea. Actually, I wouldn’t call it nausea at all, but just a little funniness in my stomach. The goal is to attack the nausea before it actually turns into nausea, so I begin my medication regimen with the nausea medication. Next is the over-the-counter help for neuropathy, and then on to the steroids. Well, that’s all for the morning session. The next task on my To-Do list is exercise. My husband and I took a little walk around the block, and it felt pretty good. I’ve gotten all of this completed by 11 am, so lunch tim

Chemo Treatment # 1 - Day 1 The day is finally here! It feels a little surreal because I’ve been anticipating this from the day I got the diagnosis. And it’s finally chemo day. It might seem strange that I’m excited about it, but knowing this is significant to the beginning of my physical healing is exciting to me. My reality is there are actual cancer cells growing in my body, and I’m ready for them to be evicted. And today’s the day that process begins. I packed my bag last night—not knowing exactly what to take, but knowing I’ll be in the infusion room for at least 5 hours. I’ve got books, snacks, journal, blanket, socks, laptop… I hope that’s enough stuff… This should keep me entertained

Count down to chemo—one day. Today’s appointment was the sternum biopsy. This is the appointment I’ve been waiting for! After this, I am able to begin chemo. So, yayyyy! It’s finally here! The biopsy appointment was first thing in the morning, so this made the wait for it even better. The only downsides to this procedure was having to fast from eating the night before and not being able to drive for 24 hours afterward. Both of these restrictions are because of the anesthesia. On a positive note, I did get some really good rest. I’m not sure how long it will take my doctor to receive the results, but the most important thing, in this appointment, was getting the cells out of my body. The cell

Count down to chemo—four days. Today I had a “Pre-hab” appointment. Pre-hab is preparation for physical therapy, and the purpose of it is to measure the base-line strength in my arms. This is part of my physical therapy because I will have lymph nodes removed during my mastectomy. So I am told, and it seems logical--it’s best to have a “base-line” to gauge my progress, and this appointment is to establish my base-line. After getting past the cute title of “Pre-hab,” this appointment was very informative. In addition to learning a few exercises, I’ve also learned the importance of diet and exercise, as it pertains to my healing. So all of the things that doctors have told me all along… I’m he