February 21, 2011

Treatment #6 has not been good to me, and although my nausea was better the first day due to the steroids, the nausea levels were about the same for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I spent most of the past few days in bed, and I'm so tired of it. Today was a bit better, and I took a Zofran this morning, but I honestly can't tell that that particular med does anything for me.

I worked all day today and had to snack on carbs and low-sugar juices or unsweetened drinks (everything tastes sickly sweet from the Phenergan and Zofran) just to get through the day. I chewed a piece of gum until the flavor was gone, then I'd chew another, and I finally stopped when my jaw tired out.

I was determined to cook dinner and try to get back to normal, and I made a Shepherd's Pie and some Johnny Cakes tonight -- Barry and I loved it, but Traci picked around hers and said it looked like dog food! Where is the love? We always liked Shepherd's Pie in the cafeteria at college, and I know Kelsey likes it when it's served nowadays at OBU. Mine was very good if I do say so myself. I know I'm a good cook, and I'll admit when something doesn't measure up, but this was good enough to cook again. Sorry, Traci.

I did call the oncology office today and tell them that I needed something different to help with my nausea levels this next time because feeling how I did this weekend made me want to quit right here and now. The plan is to give me Emend with my next infusion, and then I will take an Emend pill a day for a few days after chemo. It's the same drug they gave me before my surgery in September, and it worked well and should keep the nausea at bay for about five days following my next chemo. I understand it's a high dollar drug, and one of the other chemo patients told me it requires special approval by the insurance companies since it runs about $100 a pill. I'm okay with that. I'm still an advocate of sedating chemo patients on day one of chemo and keeping them sedated for about five days, just to get them through the worst of it. I think if a doctor had to go through what a cancer patient goes through, this might be the way everyone would get treatment. Not kidding.

I know I'm on the upswing after this last round, and I'm still not 100%, but several people have asked how I was doing, and I wanted to give an update. The only really fun thing that I have to share is maybe some Girl Scout Cookies that just came in and are sitting on our kitchen cabinet. I don't think the cookies will last long, but they make me happy just remembering my Girl Scout days. Maybe the cookies will give me endorphins to help carry me through...hey, a new cancer therapy! Who knew?