Day 75 - 12/23/18
I’ve been blessed with not having to work throughout this treatment process. My employer has an amazing short-term disability benefit that has allowed me to take the time off needed to heal. And when this process began, I had strict instructions from our management staff to focus solely on getting better. And I am following those instructions to the best of my ability.
Since I’ve been off from work though, I don’t have a “normal” schedule to follow. I’ve always struggled with being a “night owl” anyway, but being on a work schedule had helped me to maintain a normal sleeping pattern. That pattern has been completely abolished. I’m not sure if my sporadic sleeping pattern is because of the steroids or if my circadian rhythm is thrown off because of insomnia.
So, today I find myself waking up later in the morning again. I don’t think I dozed off until around 4 am-ish, so even though I slept later, I woke up feeling tired and drained. I’m still in the middle of climbing back up from the chemo, so I’m sure that has something to do with how I’m feeling also.
As I’m eating breakfast, I realize that my taste buds have changed dramatically again. For the past week I’ve been enjoying pancakes & sausage…. Today, I can’t taste either of these. I finish a few bites, and then stop eating. The enjoyment of eating is totally gone when you can’t taste the food. It’s going to be a huge challenge to find breakfast foods that I can taste more than a couple bites again.
I’ve noticed over the last couple of days that the effect of this round of chemo is similar to the effects after the 1st round. I’m not sure if this is normal, but in comparing the 3 rounds, #1 & #3 are very close. #2 seems like it was a lot easier. I thought it was going to get easier with each one, so this is unexpected. I’ll talk to my doctor during the next visit to see if this is normal.
With Christmas coming in the next couple of days, I want to make sure that I’m getting enough rest so I’ll have energy to enjoy my family. With this on my mind, I’m going to attempt to regulate my sleep between now and then. I’m going to bed at a descent time tonight. After a few hours of tossing and turning, I finally doze off—still in the wee hours of the morning.
“Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God.” Philippians 4: 6 CEV
Day 77:
https://www.healingthroughfaith.com/blog/day-77-12-25-18