I feel pretty good; I woke up somewhat queasy, trying not to be fearful that I would be actively nauseous. I took the prescribed meds-Emmend and Dexamethasone-and made myself eat something and discovered that I felt pretty good pretty fast. I expect the Dexamethasone is making me feel tougher than I really am, but it felt great to be able to go to work and be able to do my job without much trouble. I went for a brisk walk this afternoon with my coworker Carey, and she noticed that I was doing some huffing and puffing and walking slower than usual, but I got in a good walk and walked a bit a couple of other times as well. Wore a blood pressure monitor all day that went off every half hour and recorded data on a small drive; that was an annoying inconvenience, but surely a useful source of monitoring information for the study trying to discern which women might develop and me as well. I'd meant to come home and walk the dog, but went to buy some groceries after work and once home realized that I had left my medications on my desk at the office. So the dog got a ride in the car instead of a walk, and I am writing this blog for anyone who is interested in this minutia, and for me to have a reference of symptoms and what is working to combat them.
Frequent snacks and small meals seem to be a good approach to staying grounded and avoiding nausea, and I suspect the appetite today, larger than it has been for quite a while, is also courtesy of the Dex. I am only supposed to take these for one more day, and perhaps that is why I have heard that day 4 & 5 tend to be the toughest; you're coming down from those meds at the same time your white blood cells are at their lowest.
Yesterday was wonderful in some ways; we got to see Dave's oncologist, Dr. David Johnson, for the last time after nearly 5 years of warm, regular visits-he is moving on to Dallas. We will miss him. But the word he had for us is that Dave that he is looking good, blood work and chest xray clear and stable weight. And Dave got to meet my beautiful Indian Oncologist, Vandana Abramson, and the equally lovely research doctor Dr. Vinapalli who directs one of the studies with which I'm participating.
But it was plenty horrible and scary, too. The port is a wonderful alternative to getting lots of needle sticks, but it is rather central-makes me nervous, but is the lesser fear. Feeling the drugs going so deep into my body, well, I'm sure there's some kind of sensuality there, but I'd have preferred to never contemplate it. A great nurse can make all the difference, and I had a great one in my chemo nurse, but had a research nurse involved who continued talking about blood after asked Dave had to go teach, but between the nurse and Rachel, I was kept quite entertained. I must remember to bring more snacks to these things; the cancer center offers lots of snacks, but mostly of the kind that I prefer not to eat-peanut butter crackers, cookies, coffee and water in styrofoam cups, and thankfully bananas. Better to pack a picnic.
I'm participating in a clinical trial and a couple of related research projects; it means I get a lot of extra surveillance. That means that I have a crazy schedule and less time to call friends; those calls have been a great treat since my diagnosis; must keep up the communication. The lovely messages left on my FaceBook page have been humbling and helpful. I thought that I had a very strong dose of this kind of encouragement as a spouse in the cancer experience, but as a patient it is a mega-hit. I'm a lucky girl.
Every good day is a good day, and today was a good day; let's have another tomorrow.
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