The change in dose that my oncologist did for the steroids seems to be a good thing. I'm not hyped up and jittery for a couple hours after each dose, and for that, my coworkers are likely quite thankful. Yesterday, I wore out earlier than I liked, and only got six hours in. Still, not bad for day two of this cycle. I got plenty of sleep last night, so I felt pretty darn good this morning. I still had no appetite, so I ate six saltines, took my meds and hit the door.
Work went fine. I felt much better today, and managed to get nine hours in. I ate a few more crackers around noon, since I know it's not good to let my stomach be completely empty. Even with the extra hour, I felt pretty darned good when I left work. I needed to stop at Walmart for some medication and diet Coke, but I hoped that wouldn't take long.
Monica called me to say that she needed a prescription refilled, too. I was too close for calling it in to be of any value, so I went in and headed to the pharmacy to tell them about it. They told me it would be 15 minutes. No problem. I grabbed the other things I needed and started to circle back toward the pharmacy. I was halfway back when I realized how light-headed I was. Uh oh. This was suddenly turning out to be a very bad idea.
I walked slowly and deliberately back toward the pharmacy, hanging on to the cart. Thank goodness they have a bench for waiting. By the time they called me over, I felt a little bit better. By the time I got checked out and to the car, though, it was back. I knew I had to get home, so I blasted the a/c for a minute or two and headed this way.
I made it home just fine, got in the house, and fell into bed. Thank goodness, Kevin was only about five minutes behind me and realized what shape I was in. He heated up some soup for me, fixed a cold drink and brought it to me. I ate, which instantly started to make me feel better, and took my meds. I am exhausted, but no longer shaky or light headed.
Lesson learned. I am going to HAVE to force food at work. I just can't find anything bland enough, other than chicken noodle soup. And that, my friends, is getting quite old. I'm thinking maybe I'll try a baked potato tomorrow. That sounds bland. Oh, and now I remember the nurse saying I would be short of breath because of a shortage of red blood cells, and to get plenty of protein. Yeah, right.
I'm just glad to know that I should be hungry again Sunday or Monday. Mom has some tomatoes with my name on them.
4 comments:
Just dropping by to see how you are doing; pleased to see you're sticking with it and know what to do. Keep your spirits up, you will beat this.
Rachel, you might want to try looking at some protein drinks. Michael likes one called Isopure. It's great because it is't heavy like a shake, it's more like flavored water and is easy to drink.
When my ex's daughter was undergoing chemo she could get vanilla pudding down ok..they sell high protein puddings that would be best..if you cannot find those, add protein powder to the pudding.
Wow you did too much on this day. Work alone was a long day and then Walmart too on a few crackers! Glad you made it home ok.
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