Well, 8 radiation treatments and two chemo infusions and here I am. \u00a0It has been an interesting week.<\/p>\n
Starting on Friday I had mild nausea which \u00a0became progressively more bothersome. \u00a0Never to the point of vomiting but smells and tastes and even some pictures of food upset my stomach. \u00a0I researched – found out that the chemo drugs I am taking this time are much more likely to cause these problems. \u00a0I also found out that I may have been inadvertently medicating myself for nausea \u00a0 . . . \u00a0last winter I began having severe panic attacks. \u00a0I was prescribed Lorazepam with instructions to use 1\/2 milligram as needed for attack. \u00a0(An aside – 30 years ago I had my first panic attacks and was diagnosed with proctitis at the same time – this time I was diagnosed with panic attacks and ulcerative colitis. \u00a0Autoimmune. \u00a0“Should have been on meds all these years”- despite not having ANY symptoms. \u00a0 Long story short – no colitis symptoms since Sept. and anxiety much improved – I believe this had more to do with the fact that I was dosed with an antibiotic in December which according to 23andme I metabolize differently from most of the population and I believe it completely destroyed any “balance” in my digestive bacteria.) \u00a0 Anyway – I realized I had not used Lorazepam on Thursday and Friday. \u00a0 Hmmm. \u00a0Checked drugs used for nausea during chemotherapy and Lorazepam was right up there. \u00a0Once I again started to use a small dose in the morning before confronting those huge, clanking machines – \u00a0my nausea also started to subside. \u00a0Gross- but fact of life is that constipation is also a problem. \u00a0You will notice all the little ads on all the bottles warning about how much and which ones and how often. \u00a0Turns out that the darn chemo drugs also slow the motility of your intestines CAUSING this problem even if you’re eating all the bran and roughage in the world. \u00a0So – once more a little help is necessary – Milk of Magnesia , teas, and\/or Sennekot will now be part of my arsenal as well. \u00a0Happy day – I enjoyed a substantial, healthful breakfast before chemo today and \u00a0a wonderful, flavorful dinner tonight. \u00a0Sigh! \u00a0Right now I feel terrific ….<\/p>\n
I will have a pulmonary function test on Friday to ascertain if I am able to handle surgery. \u00a0Then, the plan goes from there.<\/p>\n
Todays chemo was three hours long – I am receiving anti emetics and steroids as well as Benadryl to counteract any allergic responses and to hopefully \u00a0help with nausea. \u00a0Using a port is causing this to be so much simpler and less uncomfortable than before – numb, poke, draw blood for tests, attach IV bags, begin therapy. \u00a0Done and done. \u00a0My new I Pad got me through waiting for the radiologist’s appointment as well as the three hours of chemo – THANKS YOU THREE KIDS!!!!!!!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So . . . so much to be thankful for. \u00a0Feeling good. \u00a0A wonderful therapy dog who visits us on Wednesdays. \u00a0Wonderful meals cooked by wonderful people. A kind and thoughtful husband who is always trying to help. An Oregon yeti footprint to stamp out SFC. \u00a0The moose who’s turned into a lap cat. \u00a0Kids who surprised me to tears and continue to pop in and out. \u00a0Wonderful books on healing. \u00a0The continued prayers and wishes \u00a0of so many people who mean so much to me from every part of my life. \u00a0 At this moment I really do feel great. \u00a0Everything you have done has helped me feel positive. \u00a0Thank you for helping me heal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Well, 8 radiation treatments and two chemo infusions and here I am. \u00a0It has been an interesting week. Starting on Friday I had mild nausea which \u00a0became progressively more bothersome. \u00a0Never to the point of vomiting but smells and tastes and even some pictures of food upset my stomach. \u00a0I researched – found out that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5f2b3-i","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stupidfuckingcancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stupidfuckingcancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stupidfuckingcancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stupidfuckingcancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stupidfuckingcancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/stupidfuckingcancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212,"href":"http:\/\/stupidfuckingcancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions\/212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stupidfuckingcancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stupidfuckingcancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stupidfuckingcancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}