27 September 2023
What a difference a day makes. I got out of bed around 4:45 am this morning and actually felt really good. I’m usually just OK after a chemo treatment but Julianne gave me a whole liter of saline and that seemed to make a difference. I think I can even tell a difference in the numbness of toes and fingers from the ice baths. I hope they continue these even when I go in for hydration on Friday. The use bags are painful but if it helps the numbness, I’m in.
Most importantly, in the last two days, I’ve had four bowel movements: 1 semisolid and three solid stools (I know, TMI). I haven’t gone three solid stools since my first chemo treatment on June 5th which put me in the hospital because of diarrhea. The only thing I can contribute the change to is the Metamucil. Soluble fiber is now my mantra!
My testosterone test came back in the low range of normal. My score was 194 and the normal range is 175-781. I’ll be curious if Dr. Velez decides to provide injections to boost the testosterone.
I need to head to Walgreens today to pick up the muscle relaxant. As you might guess, I had narry a muscle spasm after the treatment. I did have restless leg last night and downed a Xanax and 2 Advil and that quieted down by the time I turned in a little after 10 pm. I’ll definitely try the muscle relaxant if it calms down the spasms.
I managed 1.45 miles on my morning walk with a sprinkle of rain accompanying me on the walk with 98% humidity. It was pitch black at 5:30 am and there were very few house lights so I assume most people have their alarms set for 6 to go to work. It’s taken me years to get used to EST and EDT. I remember in Mississippi in the Central Time Zone how weird it was that national news came on at strange times, ball games started at weird times, and many tv shows were a little off kilter on the time due to the influence of the eastern US.
It got worse when I moved to Montana for a job with the Bureau of Land Management in the Mountain Time Zone. Strangely, as a consequence, Montanans often followed Ole Miss football since Ole Miss played a lot of night games during those years. It was pretty much the only option in the Mountain states and the team had a real following. I’ll admit that it opened some doors to me that would not have been open if I hadn’t been an Ole Miss graduate.
My plan today is do yoga, try to swim laps, get the prescription at Walgreens and then bundle up my old computer for recycling. If anyone wants it, I’ll be happy to send it to you. It’s an iMac 27 inch screen which they don’t make any more with at least 1 terabyte of memory. I’ll miss the 27 inch screen. The only real problem is Apple does not provide any iOS upgrades to the operating system and you are stuck with the last one they supported. Email or text me if you want it. Otherwise, I’ll ship it to be recycled.
We are on a timer and people forget to shut the timer off in the rainy season. Of course, when the rainy season is over, I’ll have to go around and check sprinkler heads that are stopped up from lack of use. It’s part of the homeowners game. Sprinkler heads always need work.
I hope this week is better than last week. When I broached the subject with Dr. Velez and I suggested the cumulative effects of Taxol, he just nodded his head. He’s scheduled me for my Taxol infusions through October 17 and then every 3 weeks after for Herceptin. I assume I’ll be getting echocardiograms about every three months to check for heart damage. At least, the week has started well.
Stay tuned!