Recap - After Chemo 1

So it has now been two weeks since chemo session 1. The first few days I was spacy but not terrible - I mainly hung around the house and my friend Debbie did home repairs. So in some ways cancer and chemo may lead to a more together apartment. There are still closets to organize, pictures to hang etc... so for those who may be visiting it might involve some work. After Debbie left on Sunday morning I got to watch bad movies, hung around and was generally mellow. I didn't feel that sick, took my pills on schedule and was spacy and felt like I wasn't thinking as quickly. The rest of last week I just puttered around, went out for lunch a couple of times and mainly hung out. It was surprisingly easy to do. On Thursday, my friend Julie came bearing gifts, clippers, a bunch of caps to wear around the house and a pink bathrobe. So I believe I am set in terms of wigs, and hats and all things related to the next hard part, losing my hair.

Suddenly, oh around the time this blog appeared, my brain suddenly kicked in and I felt like I could think again. It may have been the end of taking the required pills, or just the timing but it felt pretty good and I felt more like myself than I had in a while.

That weekend I even went to see a movie, went out walking on the C&O Canal and generally felt pretty good. Tuesday I went back to work and felt fine. I'm not sure how productive I've been, much of last week included some catching up and there were holiday festivities and its not clear how productive anyone else was the week before Xmas. Anything I write or programs I run should probably be checked over the next couple of months. I also seem to act first and then think later about whether something I say or do is totally appropriate but I'm not sure I can totally blame that on the chemo.

So all in all I feel pretty good. Thursday was a little tough, I had a headache late in the afternoon, which got worse and required I check my temperature fairly obsessively and not take any pain medicine if there is a chance it is related to having a fever. Having fevers are really bad as they may signal infections and low blood counts. It is important not to mask any infection by taking pain relievers which means checking in with the hospital before taking any sort of pain reliever. My temperature seemed to stay below 97 degrees, and it meant I cut short my time at our work holiday party. I did get worried at one point when it looked like my temperature had hit 99.6 but it turned out the thermometer was upside down and it was 96.6. (Digital thermometers - checking which way the arrow or little man goes is pretty important.) I finally broke down and called the emergency number anyway even though my temperature wasn't high. The oncologist said I could take a tylenol which I paired with atavan (the wonder anti-anxiety sleep inducing drug of choice of cancer patients and neurotics apparently) and slept off and on for 10 hours. Friday my blood work was going to be checked anyway - so if my counts are down they will now anyway. I'm guessing the headache was weather related but the need to be careful with tylenol and advil may lead to a long 6 months.

This does mean I am (and think I need to be) pretty vigilant about my health and exposure to illness. I probably won't fly for the next few months - and will be careful about hand sanitizing and how close I get to those around me. For people I see and work with, please stay away if you have a cold or fever, have been sick or your family is sick. I appreciate your concern but mostly am worried about what it means if I do catch something. Compromised immunity is no fun.

Winter chemo comes with the upside of warms being pretty warm but the down side is winter colds.