Rounds 4 and 5

Me and this guy don't get along all that well.

One thing I can say about the memories of round 4 of chemotherapy is this:

LEVAQUIN SUCKS.

Or at least it sucked for ME.  I was put on a 7-day course of it to guard against potential infection, because as of a week after infusion 4 the ol' neutrophils hadn't come up to speed and it would have been very easy for me to get buggy and sick.  So, Levaquin.  Which sucked.  Muscle aches, rapid heartbeat, constant nausea, you name it.  I made it 5 days until the next scheduled lab work, and was relieved beyond measure when the tests came back in the normal range and I was given permission to go off the antibiotic.

This is only my experience.  Not everyone reacts like this to it, I'm sure.  I appear to have a very low tolerance to this particular drug.  It happens.

Just don't want to have it happen again.

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Round 5 happened a couple of days ago.  Other than the nurse basically attacking the port site with the alcohol swab to clean it before access (weird, the ouchy accidental bashing sort of helped take down the pinch of the needle access!), everything was fine.  No reactions, chair was as comfy as ever, no complaints.

Sent Biff out for Bruegger's bagels (right around the corner from the treatment center!) and asked him to get a dozen + schmear for the staff, which he did and they appreciated.  I opted for the smoked salmon on an everything bagel, because I can taste it and I'm worth it.  Biff gets the Western bagel with a tomato schmear.  Breakfast almost in bed!

The day after infusion I go in for a shot to pump up my immune system.  Normally it makes my bones start to hurt a couple of days later.  That'll be tomorrow, if I'm lucky, though the twinges are starting up now.  I'll take a Claritin before bed to get a jump on it and then a couple of ibuprofen in the morning to manage the discomfort, but that's about it.  Other than drinking a ton of water and taking my regular meds, that's about the extent of my after-care.

My nurse-oncologist is really happy with how I'm doing, which makes me feel great.

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Next one's the last one.  Then we start radiation.

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In a bizarre occurrence, during this most recent infusion I had a great need to find out what time it was at one point.  When I checked, it was around 10:30.  No real reason to need to know the time, because where was I going anyhow?

Turns out it was around that time that my former sister-in-law was passing away after a long road with her own (rare) cancer.  She would have been 55 next week.  She will be missed by family and friends for a long long time.

Tiff out.

(image by By MarinaVladivostok)