Anticipatory nausea is a thing. Apparently some people get it on their first day of chemotherapy which I find crazy because they don’t even know how the drugs will affect them. The body certainly responds in weird ways. For me, as I start cycle 4 (treatment 7), I probably feel more nauseous than I have at any point through the first 3 cycles. I can’t help but think this is controllable and it’s all in my head. That it’s a sign of mental weakness. Well, maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. Regardless, I’m sitting here feeling sick to my stomach as my drugs get prepared for what seems like forever.
My recovery from treatment is taking longer and longer. I would say my body was back to normal by Monday or Tuesday of this week, as in days before it was about to get hammered again (today, Thursday). There are certainly good days during that period too, just fewer and further between. I started a drug called Neulasta after my last treatment. It’s this box with a needle and medicine that they stick on my arm right after I finish the treatment. I have to tell my curious son why there is a box that blinks green on my arm. My story is that it gives me superpowers as long as he doesn’t touch it. That seems to work. Back to the funky contraption – the needle is deployed immediately, but the drugs don’t dispense until after 27 hours so they don’t interfere with the chemo. It’s only been on the market for like 6 months and prevents the patient from having to come back the next day. The drug stimulates bone marrow activity to generate white blood cells. It also gives me crazy chest and back bone pain, to the point where I can’t walk at times. Crumbling to the floor is never fun. Hopefully the intensity of the pain lessens with each dose.
My other fun ailment these days is uncontrollable, deep guttural hiccups. The kind that make my whole body convulse. They seems to last anywhere from 3-4 hours. Not the funnest thing in the world. It will be interesting at work if they spring up out of nowhere.
I’m almost 60% of the way through this thing. I need to keep powering through. Yes, I’ve got some crummy side effects, but i can still function mostly normally – I can take my kid to soccer practice, I can go to work, I can drink an occasional beer with my buddies, I can take Beeral on date nights. I’ve got about 2 months left! Need to put my head down and power through!!