Chemo Round 4

My nurse made one small change in my routine yesterday because she was busy with two patients at once and was being efficient. Instead of putting the steroids into my port with a syringe, she hung a bag from the pole and it dripped in for 20 minutes. It was a game changer. The steroids are never pleasant. I get strange feelings in my body, I can taste it and smell it...it's pretty intense. After the chemo dripped in for 30 minutes I was on my way.

The aftermath of the steroids last night was not fun. I could taste and smell them all night. I drank an entire pitcher of mint tea, which had me up throughout the night, but it helped with the taste and the smell and I was very thirsty. I'm supposed to drink like crazy to flush my system. I should drink plain water, but I find if I put the herbal mint tea in there it tastes batter and I drink twice as much.

As you can probably imagine, the steroids make me very hungry. Sydney and I had been to Trader Joe's, so we had lots of good, fresh food in the house. I had sushi (No raw fish though, not allowed when doing chemo), shrimp spring rolls, an apple, cheese and saltines, a salad, Casey's salad, and countless cookies. Oh, and the last of the Ben and Jerry's. At least most of it was good for me!!

The steroids also make it difficult to sleep. The ativan (anti-nausea) took the edge off but I was still buzzing. I came up with a business plan for our large piece of prperty that included a yoga/dance studio, a recording studio, a cottage. Casey liked the cottage idea but rolled his eyes at the rest. I had fun thinking about it, though! I also worked on writing a book in my head. It was a crazy night!

All in all, last night I just felt plain weird. My skin felt wrong. I feel great this morning, but I tend to start getting very nauseous Thursday evening. I'm sure the Neulasta shot I'm getting this morning adds to it. I'll be down until Monday, but then I'll have 10 days of feeling good before round five begins. The nurse said my hemoglobin is low and that I may need to go to the hospital for a blood transfusion soon. I had three at birth, I forget how many during battle one, a few at Sequoia...I guess all of my own blood has been gone for a long time! It's not as bad as it sounds. Blessings to people like Bob Canepa who gives blood and platelets for people like me. Love you, Bob.

Just returned from getting my shot, going to lunch with Casey and walking around "Tuesday Morning." My sweet husband went along with all of it. I actually did my hair, put on make-up, wore a dress and high heeled boots...it felt great. We went to La Palapa for lunch. It's a Mexican restaurant in the Marigold Center and it's excellent. They have Chicken Mole and it is yummy! I don't know of another place on the Central Coast to get Mole sauce. (Pronounced mo-lay, not like the rodent).It makes me happy!

When we got home my friend Sharon came by with homemade pumpkin bread and we had a quick visit. Chrissy is on her way to bring me a present and after our visit I will Probably crawl into my bed. I can feel the steroids beginning to release their grip. Soon I will be nauseous and snuggling in bed until probably Monday morning. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Namaste,

Jill