Life with Cancer is Hard -- Part II:  My Week with Chemo

First of all, thank you for the support and positive feedback I received after my last blog. It certainly answered the question, "How much do you really want to know?"  

I've decided to write this in 3 parts, rather than 2, because I'm realizing that it's a lot of information.   If I tried to write it all at once, you might not get the next installment until June!

Here's what a typical week looks like:

Monday: I consider this a lost day because I'm at the hospital for most of it. What should take 5 hours usually turns into 6 or 7. Sometimes there aren't enough nurses doing blood draws (it takes longer from a port and only nurses can do it) and sometimes Dr. Kaplan is running behind, but most often there's a delay in getting the chemo drugs to the clinic. Occasionally all three happen which makes for a long day.

 

One of the many things I put under the category of "adding insult to injury" is that the steroid I receive to help with nausea also winds me up -- starting at 9pm. I often don't fall asleep until 1 or 2am.

Day One of not getting enough sleep.

Tuesday: Tuesdays go quickly because I volunteer in Olivia's class while the boys are in preschool. I feel pretty good until late afternoon/early evening, when I start to get tired and a little achy. Knowing that I literally won't do anything on Wednesday, I stay up late getting as much done as possible.  My goal is to help Wednesday evenings go more smoothly for James when he's on his own.

Day Two of not getting enough sleep.

Wednesday: I feel tired, achy and "drugged". I often can't focus enough to even watch TV, so I spend a lot of time listening to my iPod (Podcasts are my friend, if anyone has any suggestions). I sleep a little but I'm often restless. I don't have the energy to get up but not I'm not tired enough to sleep. I'm often wide awake at 3am and sometimes I'll get up to brush my teeth and take a shower.  I don't feel better at that hour but the drive to do SOMETHING usually wins.

My sleep pattern is a mess by Thursday and it takes me a day or two to get back on track.

Thursdays: I still feel slightly drugged, although it's been better the last few weeks because I asked Dr. Kaplan to reduce the amount of steroid I receive (at the suggestion of a nurse). I still don't feel well, but I'm not as loopy. The downside of the decreased steroid is I'm more nauseous but I have meds that help and I think it's a good trade off.

A chemo side effect I haven't mentioned is weak and achy legs, which I notice a lot on Thursday and it continues through the weekend to a lesser degree.

On Thursday morning I can write a couple of e-mails, get the boys dressed and eventually get them to school but that's about it. I feel better by early afternoon but start to slow down again around dinner time.

Friday and the Weekend: I don't feel 100% on Friday but I'm getting there. I usually feel relatively good on the weekends, although the last two have been harder. My body has done a great job tolerating chemo but I think it's finally tired of being poisoned and I'm not rebounding like I used to. I appreciate my weeks off but I don't get my energy back like I did at the beginning. I'm starting to get a little depressed about it and there were a few tears last weekend when my energy hit an all time low.

I didn't see Dr. Kaplan last week but I did talk to the nurse about my fatigue and she had two thoughts. The first was that the medication I'm on eventually catches up with you in a big way (ugh). She also suggested increasing my protein and water, which I did, so hopefully I'll feel better in the coming weeks.

Next time, Part III: Stuff isn't getting done 

Read more...