Holly's Notes and Condition

Chemo Dose #03 - Day 1 - 3:30 am and I'm Awake

I'm wide awake at 3:30 am. I took the sleeping medication at 9:30 pm, last night and was able to sleep from 10 pm straight through until now, 3:30 am - so 5 and 1/2 hours.
Dave, thankfully, is still asleep, as I type this.
I will force myself down for a nap later this afternoon - I did that last week, and it seemed to help make the coming down off the 'chemo hyper' feeling less of an emotional and physical crash - which is a good thing.
Dr Okun did mention yesterday, that eventually we will have to wean me off the sleeping medication - I made him smile, by telling him, "ahh, something else to look forward to, yet another reason to live." For this 3rd dose - he did not change any of the medications - even though, the skin rash on my face is not responding to antibiotics (takes me back to my teen years dealing with sporadic outbreaks of acne - for which I was teased mercilessly - not one of my more pleasant childhood memories). So this more 'user friendly' chemo isn't being quite so friendly to me, at least for these first 2 doses - hopefully that will improve this week.
Phyllis, my nurse after examining me for this week's side effects - skin infection changes, started my chemo in my left arm at the elbow, and like last week - the vein was intermittently stopping, so after about 20 minutes, she restarted the chemo, low on the back of my right hand, apologizing in advance for the pain, as she had to go so low on the hand - more nerves to deal with near the vein. She also noted that the small hard bump, that has formed on the back of my right wrist is nothing to worry about, it is a reaction to the chemo, as blood vessels have valves and this one is probably blocked. I just noted it after last week's chemo - so I wanted to make sure she knew about it: it is hard to the touch, most of the time not painful, unless I put alot of pressure on my wrist or if I'm tired, about 1" long and 1/2" wide and runs across the back of my wrist.
Dave sat in the recliner next to mine. I got cold during the chemo - so I covered the top part of me with my fleece jacket, put my feet up and Phyllis brought out another of Dr. Nagasawa's wife's handmade quilts to cover my legs and body.
My son, Brent had loaned me his handheld PSP (Playstation Player) to watch movies during this chemo treatment - from the selection he offered, I chose an old favorite: 'Labyrinth' - a Jim Henson production starring a 17 year old Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie, rock star and original 'metrosexual' - but mostly an amazing display of Jim Henson creature shop puppets that included Jim Henson's childrens' talents as puppeteers, as they were also working on the movie with their dad, very original story and sets and characters - its a comfort movie that I have watched many times with my sons when they were growing up - so when I started to dose off - it wasn't a problem, I just listened to the story through my earphones and could visualize it, but still rest. Thank you, Brent - that was a very sweet thought and it worked well for me, yesterday. I had Dr Okun refill my sleeping medication, as these last weeks, I have used them a lot more, than I did in the first round - probably because the goal of the first round was strike hard and then drop me quite low on blood counts and then build back up and strike hard again on a 3 week cycle between doses. This round the objective is to keep me a lower level consistently on the RBC's and keep hitting me with the chemo every week - I call this a 'hot chemo', because its relentless and very targeted this time, previously the chemo was much more systemic and of course, was my first exposure to chemo of any type or dosing style.
And psychologically - I was better prepared this week, as I now had 2 weeks experience behind me - so I could better prepare myself and that helps my cause greatly - positive imaging and the application of good medical care - a good combo for success. My RBC's are at the same low level as last week - no change and my WBC's are at the same normal range level as last week - no change - just where Dr Okun wants to see them - so that's a positive.
I was sleepy with this dose again - 2+ hours - due to the slow start vein and restart, but Dose #03 is in me and working away.

posted by Holly @ 3:39 AM