Some possible side effects of the first chemo treatment can be nausea, night sweats, jitters, wanting to do the Hokey-Pokey in the middle of the night, trying to figure out why the UNC football uniforms have Duke Blue in them this year (OK, the last two are me being ornery). All the alien could do to me last night was give me hiccups (I scoff at his efforts). Today's blood work showed some progress with platelet counts. My platelets yesterday were at 73 (the target numbers for platelets are 140-415). When I was donating platelets, I was reading 210 and that allowed them to take a double platelet donation. The spleen is the organ that pumps the platelets into the system and as some rogue aliens decided to go to happy hour at my spleen instead of attending the big alien party in the abdomen, my platelet output was being affected by the spleen being the unwilling host to the happy hour. Happy hour seems to have quieted down a little bit as my platelet count today is at 104. Good news. I get another reading tomorrow so we'll see how it goes.
When I walked into the chemo room today it was like Norm walking into Cheers. I will repeat what I said yesterday, the atmosphere in there is very upbeat and very supportive.
I have another blood work appt. and more fluids into the system tomorrow and then hopefully a break from lab stuff until the next chemo treatment on Dec. 4.
At this point, it's all day to day how I will feel and I know what my goal is, but I'll let my body be my guide. I've had a good week of energy and if a couple days of "blah" sneak in there, that's OK too. Don't hesitate to call to talk or set up a time to come over, I'll be honest about how I'm feeling. If I miss your call, leave a message and I'll call you back or send you an e-mail. As far as offers of food, favors, etc., I'm open to everything and am not going to set up the formal list until I get an idea of how this cycle goes so that no one has to do anything that they don't need to do as far as food preparation, etc.
Life is good.
3 comments:
First! Ha! Hiccups??? Go white cells! Can I say that or will I be all Lindsay Lohan? Do you have colored cells? What's their count?
And, oh by the way, smarty pants, please see the link for the distinction between navy blue (in the Heels new unis) and Dook blue. http://www.tarheelfanblog.com/2008/11/public-service-announcement/
Dude, don't let them give you Phenergan for the nausea. Zofran all the way, baby... In all seriousness, Phenergan just makes you sleepy, so you sleep for a little bit and then wake up still feeling crappy. Zofran's the good stuff.
PS: Tejas offers a plethora of cowboy hats, sombreros, and even Indiana Jones brown felt fedoras. Let me know if I can add to your collection. =)
Cheers,
Sarah V....
er, Sarah W...
or whoever the heck I am these days...
They call me "Vee-Dub" at work, which I think is hilarious (Gehr-mahn ehn-gi-neehr-hing).
As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, keep it.
-Ghandi
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