Thursday, December 1, 2011

Round 2

I went to see Dr. C. yesterday.  Short version is that my CBC checked out fine so I'm now one day into my second round of chemo.

The office was much more crowded than it was the first time I visited, so much so they didn't even have a room for me.  I spoke to the nurse in a separate waiting room, beside a rather nice fountain, sitting at a card table.  This was the same nurse who saw to me previously, the attractive young lady who had commented on how close our ages were.  She wasn't sure if Dr. C. wanted blood drawn or a simple finger stick, but I figured she'd been so good with the butterfly last time that it was actually the more comfortable option.  She missed this time.  As she apologized profusely she dug the needle around, the tip scraping over things that did not like being scraped.  I sat there assuring her that it's all right, not a big deal, as I tried not to flinch or lose my usual smile, and I won't say that had nothing to do with the fact that she was, as noted, attractive and close to my age.  Eventually she gave up and withdrew the butterfly, apologizing once more before fetching another lab tech.  "I never stick someone twice," she told me.  A kind policy to be sure, but I still have faith she won't miss next time.  Or at least I'll let her give it a shot, so to speak.

I told Dr. C. about my stiff neck and the occasional pain behind my eyes, and while he wasn't concerned he thought it prudent to move my MRI up by a week or two.  It's only every other month when I don't have symptoms; when I do, no harm in checking.  Even if they find something, I'm not really sure what they'll do about it.  They can't give me radiation again.  They don't want to operate again.  It seems like it's chemo or nothing, and I'm already on chemo.  Maybe they'd want to up the dose?  No point worrying about it now, I guess. 

So I took my first dose of chemo last night.  I've lost over 10 pounds since my last round, largely due to my loss of appetite, and skipped the Xanax this time since I don't like how tired I get coming off it.  Either way, it hit me much harder than previously.  My stomach hurt most of the night, and I slept poorly.  There were a few times I thought I might be feeling some nausea coming on, but I managed to keep everything down.

I wonder what I'm supposed to do if I throw up before I've fully digested a dose of chemo.  Wouldn't that be an underdose?  Maybe I'll ask Dr. C.

2 comments:

  1. If you're only taking Xanax for nausea, I'd ask to be moved onto a 5-HT3 Antagonist - e.g. Zofran or Kytril. I believe they work much better than other options. I'm on Zofran myself with Temodar and have never thrown up - although I do suffer a severe lack of appetite. For fixing the lack of appetite - there is a (slightly illegal) option that comes in the form of a green herb that can make delicious brownies!

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  2. Oh, I was taking both Xanax and Zofran. Now I'm taking Zofran by itself. It works great but makes me pretty constipated so I usually take some docusate too.

    I've actually considered that other option as I can really see how it could help. I've also read stories about patients being denied coverage or otherwise abused just because they were taking it legally, by prescription.

    I think I might save that card for later.

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