Sick and Hair

5/27/2009
So it wasn't bone pain from the Nuelasta shot. I just got a cold. Need to get over this before chemo next week.

I may be starting to loose my hair today. Ran my hand through my head and came out with a lot of hair. My hair had started to feel "brittle" the past week and I was hoping this wouldn't happen. Oh well.

Okay, a special message to those who have mentioned shaving their head if I lost my hair.
While a very nice sentiment, if you shave your head, every time I see you it will remind me that I lost my hair. So don't shave your head for my sake. We'll see just how much hair I actually loose.

Wow, I keep having these positive thoughts and think I will get around the side effects. What the hell.

Went and got my head shaved. So far I guess it is okay. Not really happy about it, but better than watching my hair fall out, clump by clump. Waiting to see if even the stubble falls out. Still growing facial hair, but slower than usual.

Bone Pain - 1 day

Quick Post: Looks like the bone pain only lasted one day. I took 2 Vicadin and a hot bath. The pain still may have been because of the yard work Saturday.

The pain was mild to moderate. Mainly just an ache bone feeling until I sneezed and then the sharp pains throughout my body.

Yea and Owww!

5/24/2009

Well, first the yea part. Got to enjoy an adult relationship with Tyler Friday. Still trying to keep this blog "clean". Still have the incision "don't touch that" thing, but overall it was great. It had been to long.

Worked in the yard on Saturday, still feeling pretty good.

Then along comes Sunday. Wake up feeling fine. Have coffee and sit down in front of the computer. Got up to get my second cup of coffee. Owwww! What the hell was that? This is a whole body owww. At first thought it was from working in the yard Saturday.... sore muscles. But it didn't really feel like sore muscles. Oh shit, I think this is the bone pain from the Nuelasta shot last Monday. Thought I had gotten around that. The pain isn't constant if I don't move. Just sneezed and my whole body reacted. I'm going to see how long this lasts before taking one of the Vicadin.

So far it isn't horrible pain, just some sharp pains and a dull ache. Yeah, this is soooo much fun. Glad I'm basically healthy, I don't know how other people would deal with this. I was planning on trying to get back to the gym since my surgery pain was subsiding, but damn!

The pain is mainly in my upper legs. A little bit in the knees and shoulders. Holy shit, western medicine is making me an old man! ;-)

So, a couple of things to keep in mind. During chemo, the effects start around Wednesday with the slight nausea and general "unwell" feeling. By Friday my energy is sapped. Need to keep walking Toby and hopefully get back to the gym. Got my energy back by the following Tuesday. Felt great! Now, I think bone pain starts one week after the Nuelasta shot. I need to see how long this pain lasts. Hopefully only today.

Energy - Nice to have

5/21/2009

I seemed to have my old energy back today. Woke up with that "conquer the world" feeling. Want to work in the yard, look at new cell phones, plan out business issues, on and on.

Had slight pains yesterday that may have been related to the Neulasta shot, but nothing severe. I am learning that during the chemo treatments I'll loose energy and feel a general malaise like thing. But the rebound is very nice.

The Rebound?

5/19/2009

Yesterday was a bit rough. The constiarrhea (my new word for constipation followed by immediate diarrhea) happened. But that was followed by a less rough morning and this afternoon feeling pretty good. Still moments of being tired but my body seems to feel better overall.

Went to the doctor yesterday for my checkup and Nuelasta shot. This shot is to make the bones produce more white blood cells and avoid neutropenia. An effort to replace those destroyed by chemo. Ahhhh, western medicine. May have bone pain by Wednesday. So far so good.
Was also loosing focus while talking to the doctor. Seemed hard to concentrate even when looking at my prepared questions.

I looked around at alternative therapies over the weekend. Still going with the 95% success rate with western medicine, but if at the end of chemo more needs to be done, I will seriously be considering alternatives. I'm pretty sure this will mostly, if not all, be beat at the end of chemo.

I'm also hoping that my "hump day" is 3 days after the end of a cycle. The doctor said everyone is different and has different amount of days before rebounding.

My mom is coming out for the next cycle of chemo. Basically I think she is going to see me go from good to bad while she is here. At least I should be able to reassure her that I rebound a few days later.

The business conference I missed seems to be going really well. I'm hoping that translates into revenue! So glad Melissa could still go. And yes, still bummed that I couldn't. But did I ever make the right decision! The conference would have been a disaster for me with the way I felt.

End of Cycle 1

5/15/2009

So ends my first week of chemo. Side effects: Heartburn, hiccups, tired (fatigue seems a little strong), maybe a touch of nausea (but didn't wait to find out). Worst is keeping the IV in over night Mon - Wed and Thur - Fri. Finished treatment, went to lunch with Dane, went to pharmacy to pick up Prilosec and Emend pills. Then took a hot bath (to continue healing the surgery scar) and shower.

Have an appointment next Monday to do blood work, meet with the doctor, take my pill to boost my white blood cells, and schedule my next cycle of treatments.

Lesson learned: Just a long haul sickness and my treatments will be done in July. Still nothing compared to what others have to go through. Except for the mild side-effects and surgery, I'm not in pain. It is just the situation and wanting not to be there.

Friday night sleep the worst. Saturday not to bad.

Trip Cancellation

5/15/2009
Chemo is starting to wear me out. Main effect is begin tired and just slightly ill feeling. Still walked Toby to the library. Then went to bed last night about 8:30pm, got up around 6 am. I was up a couple of times last night with heartburn and took a Campazine pill once.

I'm not going to go on the California trip after all. I have to take a shot Monday for my white blood cells and with the way I've been feeling, it just doesn't make sense anymore. BUMMER! I'm going to miss my road trip with Melissa and I really think this business conference was going to be great.

Bill sent me pictures of my scar. I was going to put them up but you can barely see the scar. With all the chemo, I forgot to mention that the scar/leg pain is steadily getting better. Still not gone, but much better.

Still the most irritating aspect of chemo is wearing the IV for days. There was discussion of a port device but it requires surgery etc., so I'm going to wait it out and see how things go.