6 September 2023
The chemo infusion with Taxol, magnesium and saline went well yesterday. Today was a different story. This morning I had two severe diarrhea episodes. Thank goodness for the adult diapers because the first came with no warning. If it hadn’t been for the diaper, I would have been washing sheets a little after midnight. The second one at least gave me some time to get to the bathroom. The diapers are worth not having to do midnight laundry.
I thought I would have another sleepless night after the two episodes (I was waiting on the next one) but the Xanax took over and I didn’t wake until 8 am this morning. True to form, I was a little hung over with the Xanax. Just as an example, after my morning computer binge, I shut the computer down. I never do that unless there is a thunderstorm in the area at the time. It could just as well be chem fog from yesterday’s infusion but there’s no way to tell.
It’s is currently 11:12 am and I just finished my morning walk. I usually never walk after 10 am but today was nice. The temperature was a balmy 84°F and the humidity was tolerable. Today is bulk trash pick up day and I was surprised at how much people were putting out for pickup. It seems to go in cycles with some months virtually nothing and then this month seems everyone is cleaning everything out. Looks as though old couches are popular for discard.
My old anthropology teacher at Ole Miss, Dr. James, always said you could tell more about societies by their tels (dig terminology for garbage dumps) than by just about anything else. Who knows what anthropologists will determine from our mount trashmores.
I’m also determine to do yoga and swim again today, Xanax be damned. I usually don’t swim after 10 am either. Not sure why my cutoff is 10 but it seems to work for me most cases but I really do need to get back into shape. My blood pressure is running a little high, even with medication and my glucose level is in the 200 range again. Of course, I had a dose of steroids yesterday. It has absolutely nothing to do with the Tootsie Roll miniatures I keep sneaking.
I texted Dr. Velez about the diarrhea and the possibility of a script for Imodium. He had already sent off the script for Lomotil but Danielle didn’t tell him about the Imodium. He said he would try to send a script but wasn’t sure insurance would pay for that. It’s worth a try if there’s a significant difference in price. I can’t always depend on the BOGO for Imodium. Perhaps it’s cheaper on Amazon. I also informed him I’ve doubled the dose of Lomotil and now take two every four hours and alternate that with Imodium every four, so both are on an eight hour schedule. It really gets complicated keeping up with it so I have a sheet I log everything down so I know which pills to take when. I also record each diarrhea episode. When the nurse or Dr. Velez asks, I just hand them the printed sheet.
I have an appointment at 4 pm for the injection to boost my white blood cell count and for the next two days at the same time. Looks like I need to buy stock in (1) adult diapers (2) Imodium (3) and Claritin. I’m not too sure how well the Claritin works on preventing bone pain from the injections but so far, any that I’ve had has been minor. At least it seems to help with my itching problem almost as well as Allegra.
Someone yesterday at the infusion must have completed their cancer treatment. There was a bell ringing and a lot of hooting and hollering and clapping. Congrats to whomever it was. I’ve a long, long way to go.
Stay tuned!
