End of Cycle Three

Tomorrow is Chemo #4 and I don't think I've ever really posted about Chemo #3.
Mel went with me and Paul came to get us started with prayer like always.

If you look close in the picture above you can see where the i.v. is going into my port.

I took a salad to eat for lunch (I'm out of the house from 9 until about 4, so packing a lunch is a must) and unfortunately I can't eat salad anymore now. I know it's a mental thing, but after every round of chemo there is a certain food that I eat either on day one or day two that I can never eat again. It's kind of like when you get sick on something and then after that you feel gross just looking at it. I've had three chemo rounds and now there are three foods I can't stomach- mashed potatoes and gravy, gourmet white cheese, and now salad. Salad hurts the most because it's the easiest thing to eat, especially on my diet. The thought of salad dressing makes me ill! I tried it the other night just to see if I could get passed it and it was gross! So the challenge during chemo rounds is to not eat anything I really like so it doesn't get ruined!

Back to Chemo 3:

I had a less-than-sympathetic nurse so that was a frustration. I asked her something about the vein on my right arm bruising after every weekly blood test and she said, "I don't feel sorry for you." Really, she did!

Ok- the two things I mentioned that had me worried...

After complaining about my nausea the onc prescribed me several new medications to try until I find something that works. One of them is Maridol. Which is marijuana pills. This is what started my tears in his office because I just kept thinking that I must be really sick if I'm getting medicinal marijuana now. This is no longer a big deal though. I haven't tried it yet but I probably will during this next round.

The second thing is that they were worried about my heart rate being elevated. No big deal except that when he told me, my heart rate was nothing compared to what it had been the night before. When I tried to explain to him how bad it had gotten he said that I am no longer to just wait out a rapid heart rate at home. Whenever I am aware of my heart racing I'm supposed to go straight to the ER for an ekg. And we all know how I feel about emergency rooms! (The rapid heart beat can be a normal side effect of chemo but I'm told it can also lead to congestive heart failure, so add that to your loooong list of prayer requests from me!) There has been at least one night after each chemo round when my heart races really badly. So this new order from the onc feels like an automatic ER trip three more times! Ugh!

Mostly, this chemo was middle of the line. Not as bad as #1 not as good as #2.

Also-just so we're clear, the incidents with me feeling weak while pumping gas and trying to jump (that I mentioned last post) are rare occasions. I'm feeling overall more tired these days, but those extreme times are on days when it hits me hardest. It's not always that bad.

And just for fun- here are more pics of people wearing Lola (Oh, yes, I've named my wig.):

Adriah-

Jill-

(I didn't pull this one down enough on Jill so she looks like she's got a long forehead!)

Grant-

Kristin-

Sue-

Jen-