There hasn’t been an update in a while. Then again, I didn’t have a lot to talk about. The first round of chemo wasn’t too bad. I felt poorly the first two days and was very tired, but after that I felt good. Doing hard things isn’t possible though because I’m tired and slow. Concentrating is difficult, so I listen well to my body and take as much rest as I need. I had my consult with the oncologist today to see whether I was ready for the second round. I had my blood taken an hour before, and the blood work was done within the hour. The doctor said my blood work looked “excellent” and I’m ready for round two. He also looked at the (ex) lump under my arm. The lump was about 3cm in diameter before the first round of chemo. Now it’s gone. I wondered whether the reduction in swelling was just the prednisone, but my onco said it was a very good sign that the chemo was working. All in all very good news today!
On another note: I shaved off my hair. (I believe the photo makes that clear.) I decided to shave it off myself as it started to fall out, and that itches like an appropriate metaphor. I got myself a nice warm hat, because a bald head is cold! I do still have my eyebrows, but we’ll see how long that lasts. I do have one other side effect which is a bit worrying: my foot keeps feeling like it’s falling asleep. This is because the chemo is damaging my nerves. It’s not bothering me too much at the moment (it’s only happened twice, lasted about three hours) but they are keeping an eye on it.
So tomorrow I’m going to face it head on. Other than the Zofran which works well (but is only of one day) I now have some different medication against nausea since the Metoclopramide didn’t work. I’ll feel like rubbish again this weekend, but considering how I’m feeling now, and how it went last time, I reckon it won’t be too bad.