Well, we
have made it through another round of chemo, my army. Your support this
time was essential to me getting through. I was not doing well in the days
before this round - emotionally, this is becoming harder and harder to bear.
I know what I need to do, but I just don't want to. But, I'm
better, knowing we are down to TWO MORE ROUNDS!!!!
The doctor's appointment went well on Thursday. My CEA, which is a cancer marker in my blood (anything under 3.0 is considered normal) seems to be stabilizing. It was at 1.1 this past week (had been at 0.9 and 1.0 the past two tests). So, the doctor seemed pretty pleased with that, and I can tell you, the relief I felt was almost overwhelming. I don't know why I got myself so worked up about this drs appt, but about a week prior, I started feeling *very* anxious. There was no "reason" other than sheer panic and a feeling of being completely out of control. It sucks, to be honest.
Anyway, we made it through the med-onc appointment fairly well. General consensus seems to be that I'm tolerating all of this fairly well, and we will continue to move forward. We did get confirmation that I'll have the next round of chemo (scheduled for Sept 6th), and sometime after that, I'll have another CT scan. This will give us visual confirmation of what we hope to be happening - that the tumors in my lungs are smaller and smaller (maybe, dare I say it, GONE?!?!) and that we can move onto the next step of this journey, which is oral chemo. Good Lord, when did that become my new goal?
After the appt on Thursday, Dad and I went up for chemo. I'm beginning to resent the infusion room. It's nothing personal - it's a lovely room, and the people in that room are nothing but kind and generous and sweet. But, I can tell you that it's getting harder and harder to want to willingly walk into that room. *sigh* Aren't I full of fun this morning? :)
This round didn't go too badly. I was out on Thursday and Friday. I did ask for Ativan (to help with my anxiety and nausea) on Thursday, which contributed to my amnesia about this round (amnesia is one of the side effects of that drug). Saturday, I had hoped to feel better sooner than I did, but Sunday was my day for recovery this weekend. Generally, I start feeling better on Saturday afternoon and evening. This time, I will say it took about a day longer than I expected. Yesterday, I woke up and started to get up and about, which was nice. As I moved around, I felt better, but I was tired, so I still had to take it slow. By the end of the day yesterday, I was feeling somewhat normal (for me), so I'll take it.
I will say the one thing about this round - a newer side effect that I'm not happy with.....heartburn. I've had it with all of my chemo (4 years ago and this time) and, so far, I've been able to mitigate it with preventative meds. This time, it's been happening as breakthrough as well. Fun. So, I'm going to try some things this week to see if it helps. I know that I don't like waking up feeling like I have fire in my throat. Not cool. If I can't get this taken care of soon, I'm going to set an appt with my med-onc team again. This has to stop.
What else? I think that's it for now. I'm hoping to get back into the office once this week. The kids start week 2 of school, and we are dealing with some things there, so that will definitely take up some time this week. I'm going to try to take it easy this week.....
More in a bit - and, maybe a more upbeat post when I'm feeling better? :)
The doctor's appointment went well on Thursday. My CEA, which is a cancer marker in my blood (anything under 3.0 is considered normal) seems to be stabilizing. It was at 1.1 this past week (had been at 0.9 and 1.0 the past two tests). So, the doctor seemed pretty pleased with that, and I can tell you, the relief I felt was almost overwhelming. I don't know why I got myself so worked up about this drs appt, but about a week prior, I started feeling *very* anxious. There was no "reason" other than sheer panic and a feeling of being completely out of control. It sucks, to be honest.
Anyway, we made it through the med-onc appointment fairly well. General consensus seems to be that I'm tolerating all of this fairly well, and we will continue to move forward. We did get confirmation that I'll have the next round of chemo (scheduled for Sept 6th), and sometime after that, I'll have another CT scan. This will give us visual confirmation of what we hope to be happening - that the tumors in my lungs are smaller and smaller (maybe, dare I say it, GONE?!?!) and that we can move onto the next step of this journey, which is oral chemo. Good Lord, when did that become my new goal?
After the appt on Thursday, Dad and I went up for chemo. I'm beginning to resent the infusion room. It's nothing personal - it's a lovely room, and the people in that room are nothing but kind and generous and sweet. But, I can tell you that it's getting harder and harder to want to willingly walk into that room. *sigh* Aren't I full of fun this morning? :)
This round didn't go too badly. I was out on Thursday and Friday. I did ask for Ativan (to help with my anxiety and nausea) on Thursday, which contributed to my amnesia about this round (amnesia is one of the side effects of that drug). Saturday, I had hoped to feel better sooner than I did, but Sunday was my day for recovery this weekend. Generally, I start feeling better on Saturday afternoon and evening. This time, I will say it took about a day longer than I expected. Yesterday, I woke up and started to get up and about, which was nice. As I moved around, I felt better, but I was tired, so I still had to take it slow. By the end of the day yesterday, I was feeling somewhat normal (for me), so I'll take it.
I will say the one thing about this round - a newer side effect that I'm not happy with.....heartburn. I've had it with all of my chemo (4 years ago and this time) and, so far, I've been able to mitigate it with preventative meds. This time, it's been happening as breakthrough as well. Fun. So, I'm going to try some things this week to see if it helps. I know that I don't like waking up feeling like I have fire in my throat. Not cool. If I can't get this taken care of soon, I'm going to set an appt with my med-onc team again. This has to stop.
What else? I think that's it for now. I'm hoping to get back into the office once this week. The kids start week 2 of school, and we are dealing with some things there, so that will definitely take up some time this week. I'm going to try to take it easy this week.....
More in a bit - and, maybe a more upbeat post when I'm feeling better? :)
Comments:
Jackee said...
This
is the best place to express your feelings. Never feel bad for being negative
on this blog. We all care and understand and are praying for you.
August
20, 2012 at 8:21 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment