Chemo 9 of 12: Three quarters done!

Yesterday was chemo 9 of 12.  I woke up pretty early because I wanted to get to the infusion center pretty early.  I had a 10am appointment with the oncologist, but since I needed a blood draw, and my last two times the Port was clotted, I figured I'd give them extra time.   I was a little upset while doing the morning routine, just anticipating the port clot and the long day, especially with the doctor appointment mixed in.


To my luck (and the nurse's!) it was not clotted for a change!  The day was looking up already.  So, I had an hour to kill before my appointment which I spent at Starbucks getting a caffeine free iced latte, which counts as a "positive" drink in my quest for eight 8oz drinks per day.


My visit with the oncologist was unremarkable.  She did hear breath sounds in all 5 lobes (unlike the NP last time), and my exam was fine.  We talked about radiation a little, and she again stressed its importance and basically told me I was getting it.  (Which is good).   One question I had for her was why my heart was racing so high on my bike rides, when I could never get it that high previously.  Her answer surprised me as it was something I'd never considered, as you can see below.  She believes that it is as a result of my declining hemoglobin and hematocrit.   As you can see, it doesn't appear to have changed much at all, but she said what I'm doing now is basically exercising down approximately two units of blood, and it was a bigger drop than I'd considered.

Additionally, this didn't worry her and she said I could continue to bike as I please.  Additionally, no signs of bleomycin toxicity, as my cough was dry, my relative shortness of breath was only a few hours after exercise, and she said if I'm still doing the rides I described to her, she wasn't worried.

After that, I went to chemo.  Since everything was working well, we had a relatively short day and were out of their by 2pm!  This was great.  Sarah, my nurse, and I had been discussing food and after discussing chinese, I decided that's what I wanted post-chemo, and I ate my whole order, which was generous.   Then I took a two hour nap.   After that was when the chemo hit, and it hit pretty hard.  I was dizzy most of the night and into today despite plenty of hydration.   I had some nausea last night and this morning, but not too bad.   Much of today was spent sitting in the "chemo fog" but I feel relatively OK now.   I probably will skip dinner, (we had Boston Market for lunch), but I may have some ice cream.

So, all in all, even though it was a tough session, at least it was as short session, and I've only got three more to go!  Pretty excited about that.    Also, my ANC has rebounded from 100 to 500, so, I feel downright normal in terms of my immune system, even though 500 is still far from normal.   Good news anyway, I say.

In other news...

My sunglasses fight cancer Part II:

Last Saturday was Livestrong day at one of the local bicycle shops.  They had several silent auctions, but the one I was most interested in was a pair of sunglasses.   I do not use my prescription sunglasses for riding, since my prescription isn't actually that strong.  The sunglasses up for bid were the Oakley Livestrong Jawbones.  I had been planning on some new cycling glasses this year since mine are getting pitted, and I may not have chosen these, but all the circumstances were right.  First a buddy said they were great for riding, but more importantly, since the store donated them, the entire bid went to the charity.  I was very surprised that I had won them, and was excited to get them for just a bit under retail.  So far I like the fit, I'll DEFINITELY have to get used to the look, but they seem like they would be great riding glasses.