During Taxol #5

Adie Grey coming to you today from the infusion room, reclined and awake. Hooray, they gave me Claritin today instead of Benedryl! I'm a bit sleepy, but I don't feel as if I've been hit in the head with a 2x4. Sorry not to get my nap as I'm not really sleeping enough lately, but I'm glad to get to write.

Today I was assigned a room with a bed rather than recliner chair, and the nurse of my request. Nearly all of the nurses here have been fantastic, but I feel particularly attached to a couple of them. Jenny, who is working with me today, also worked with Dave 5 years ago during the treatments he received here at Vanderbilt post lung cancer surgery. He had his initial chemotherapy and radiation therapy at a different facility, and that is part of another long story I will not tell right now. But we liked Jenny and remembered her, and I was glad to have the chance to reconnect with her, although I wish it could've been at a party or something. It's comforting to have her taking care of me though.

I asked that the Decadron be reduced and Glenda said she thought they could halve it starting next week. I think that may help with the blues that have been hitting on the weekends, and maybe help slow the weight gain I've been battling. Weird how some folks waste away during chemo and others bulk up.  I'll miss the King Kong Thursdays though; I like having a day I can count on to be feeling great and energetic.  I'd rather it came from clean living and good health than from drugs.

Trish had a great idea, to compile a list of things one can do while receiving a chemo infusion. Today I have blogged, spoken with my parents on the phone, checked my blood work online (improving!), and visited with my husband. I've seen people kniting, playing sudoku, reading, working jigsaw puzzles, etc. I wish I could receive a pedicure while here-I need one desperately but am leery of the very kind and inexpensive folks I have gone to in the past with our language barriers and my hygienic hyper-vigilance. I called the program director here to inquire if anyone offers that service here in the infusion center-I would think it could be a goldmine-but she informed me that this service is not available. I would so pay for someone to come and give me a massage or clean up my toe nails! I'll keep looking for someone to help with this in the community, but it would be a time saver to be able to address it while dealing with the lost hours of the 7 more treatments I'm scheduled to receive.