The Merits of the Case

Evening Update: Little did I know that this morning's manageable side-effects were going to be the high point of the day. It's been a very rough afternoon and evening...lots of pain in my hips, legs and back, some nausea, mostly just feeling really, really awful. I'm okay..soldiering through as best I can..but anxious for this part to be over. I hope it is just temporary, anyway.

So far the chemo side-effects have been very manageable. I'm knocking on wood that it continues. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be the rough days, so we'll see what happens.

Yesterday I received the Neulasta injection in the back of my arm. It hurts and it takes a good minute to administer it. I won't be looking forward to that one every two weeks.

Yesterday evening after dinner I was so exhausted that I absolutely could not keep my eyes open and I feel asleep on the couch for an hour or so. When I woke up we watched a movie and then went to bed, where I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. But then I woke up at about 4:30 a.m. this morning and have been up ever since. I'm not sure if it's the steroids or what, but when it became obvious that I was not going to be able to fall back to sleep, I got up and began working on my to-do list. I got several school and household business e-mails sent out, refilled my prescriptions online, ordered my books for next semester and made a shopping list for Randy.

My hips and legs are beginning to ache now, which is a side-effect of the Neulasta, so I'm going to take some Tylenol and hope that helps. I have felt slightly nauseous both yesterday and this morning, but the cheaper anti-nausea medication has been helping (as opposed to the $400-for-twelve-pills Zofran [and that's for the generic version!]). I have also experienced a significant loss of appetite...nothing really sounds or tastes very good...but I'm trying to find things to eat. The nausea, hip pain, and loss of appetite can best be compared to pregnancy side-effects so far. Been there, done that a few times and if this is as bad as it gets, I'm good with it. I'll update later if there are any changes.

Update: Because I'm also looking at this blog as a journal to record my experience, I want to be sure to note a couple of other side-effects I have experienced so far. Unfortunately, constipation has to be added to the list (caused by the anti-nausea meds, I'm told). That's a fun one, and one I'm thrilled to be sharing with everyone I know. I'm trying to work on it with diet and hopefully some physcial movement soon, but I may have to resort to pharmaceutical help. TMI, I know! Also, I should note that I experienced a pretty bad headache the evening after my treatment which turns out to be an uncommon side-effect of the anti-nausea meds I received during the chemo treatment. Patty (my nurse) told me yesterday during my injection that it was the cause, and that not everyone experiences that. So I'm 2 for 2 with the unusual side-effects so far. Let's hope the record stays right there. I don't like the unusual ones.