21 February 2024
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, boys and girls! It’s 71°F with a cloudless sky with the humidity at 32%. Too bad I feel wiped out.
The Herceptin treatment yesterday didn’t bother me. As a matter of fact, a friend whose oven crapped out came over and roasted a chicken last night and we dined on the chicken, my oven roasted potatoes, and his store bought salad. I finally kicked him out around 9 pm last night and was only a little tired from the day.
When I got up this morning I was dragging. I thought perhaps it was due to my lack of caffeine. I had a blood draw this morning and it needed to be fasting. Apparently it’s not the lack of caffeine. Usually when I have a Herceptin infusion, the day of and the day after are OK. It’s the third and fourth days that wipe me out. The only positive spin I’ll put on it is that it may mean I start recovering a day early.
My endocrinologist has phlebotomists at his office complex. They are excellent. They usually have no problem finding a vein. Today was different. Years ago I remember (probably incorrectly) some nurse telling me fasting meant no eating after midnight and only enough water to swallow down pills. Last blood draw, the phlebotomist told me I needed to drink plenty of water before a blood draw. I did today but it didn’t do much good.
Because of the mastectomy of my left breast, you can’t draw blood from my left arm. Nor can you take blood pressure from that arm, nor really do anything with the left arm since they removed the lymph nodes near that arm and those activities could cause permanent swelling.
That means all blood draws and blood pressure cuffs must be from the right arm. Since my torn biceps surgery on the right arm, no one seems to be able to find the vein at the juncture of the forearm and upper arm. Usually, they have success just above that juncture on the upper arm but not today. He got a dribble.
He then moved to the veins in my hand. That’s a very painful area from which to draw blood but this guy is so good he didn’t hurt me at all. Instead of one bandaid, I’m sporting two on the right side.
After I got home, I was still dragging. I called physical therapy and canceled today’s session. I knew I wasn’t up to completing anything she wanted to put me through today. I hated to cancel but knew I would be wasting her time and they might be able to fill the void with another patient.
This morning I had my last injection of insulin from the first pen. There’s still some insulin left in there but you are supposed to throw away the pen after 42 days (it’s supposed to be OK to throw them directly in the trash). I’ve gone over that time limit but don’t think it really matters if I’m off a day or two. I start the new pen tomorrow and that’s another thing I’m going to have to keep on my calendar – the start and end dates of the pens.
I was going to shop for groceries after physical therapy today. That probably wasn’t a feasible idea from the start. Since I am not doing PT today, I ordered online again. I remember when Publix started experimenting with home delivery about 15 years ago. I tried it a couple of times but was disappointed with the shoppers selections. Publix delivery died out. Then came the pandemic and now home delivery is everywhere. As I age out, it becomes more useful. Considering that Amazon delivers so quickly, others have picked up the model and it’s become more and more a part of our lives in urban areas.
It looks like I’ll be in for a few low energy days this week. Hopefully things will turn around more quickly each time.
Stay tuned!
