Happy Valentine's Day

Thursday: Chemo #4 - Over half way to the end

I am loving being alive this morning! The nurses gave me a beautiful dark red scarf to celebrate, and it makes me happy. The snow is sprinkling lightly outside and I feel quite peaceful and ready to take on the chemo.

I am sitting here in the "Chemo - recliner" with a warm blanket wrapped around me. My wonderful nurse Carol is taking very good care of me. Bill ,the lively volunteer, is very kind and brings me water and tea whenever I need.

(Being able to "blog" as I am here is awesome -St. Mary's offers free wireless to patients. We need to work on student wireless access at school!)


I am currently "downloading" (my term for being hooked up to the IV) my first of three chemotherapy treatments. I don't really feel anything when they download - but one of the anti-nausea meds makes me a little loopy! (So if I start rambling or not making sense you'll know why.)

So I am feeling ready to be done with all of this. All of the side effects that I am feeling are all "do-able" but when I add them up, it really gets to me.


Being tired is one thing. I can deal with it. I go to bed early and get a good nights sleep. When I am at work, I try to spend a good amount of time sitting at my desk doing computer work and taking it easy physically.

The heartburn is manageable. I eat small meals throughout the day and this helps. Also lots of water helps (I really do try to remember to drink water!!!)

The foot pain last week was a bit much! Did you get the opportunity to see my multi-colored toe socks with my tiger flip-flops? Wow, what a fashion statement that was! Mostly the bottoms and sides of my feet were sore - like they had been rubbed raw with sandpaper inside my shoe. Really nice! I have moved up to being able to wear my house slippers and now, my Birkenstocks! (All these shoes are much more warm weather ones... the snow could be finished in my opinion!)

And the big one now... Neuropathy (If I've spelled it right) is pain in my muscles. It hurts to walk. It hurts to sit. It really hurts to bend or kneel on the floor. Kind of like how my muscles might feel after running a marathon that I didn't train for. Ouch!

I have been given some new medicines that should help with the heartburn and the muscle pain. I am going to check into an exercise program aimed at breast cancer patients to help them with fatigue and stretching after surgery. I think that will help me feel better.

I am going to take it really easy this weekend in hopes of being ready for work on Tuesday!

(Oh, and as long as I am feeling good, I'll be in on Friday -- for Lunch Games -- Get those grades up and come play!)

This all sounds like I am down... and I am a bit. But mostly I am focused on that this is better than dead! And it is all a very short time in my life and there are many lessons I can learn from this experience.... learning is good... what will I learn today?

See you all soon!