I had a visit with my oncologist today. I've never been so excited for a doctor's appointment in my life. That's kinda sad, but I couldn't wait to talk to her. She was impressed by my overall lack of side effects (nausea, etc) and I was happy to see that I'd lost 8 lbs in the past two weeks. Another benefit! She was also more than ready to help find a solution to the headaches.
She believes that the problem is a combination of lack of sleep and the steroids. (Mom was half right!) I asked if it could truly be the steroids, since I haven't taken one in 10 days. She assured me that it could be. What's weird, is that I didn't have the headache when I was taking them. It came later. That's why she thinks it's in combination with a cumulative lack of sleep.
Her solution was to cut my steroids in half for this round, and she prescribed Ambien. I get steroids in my IV before chemo, and then take the pills for the following three days. Instead of two tablets twice a day, I'll be taking one tablet twice a day. I really, REALLY need this to work, so I've decided that it's going to.
Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I will be at the plastic surgeon's office for a tissue expander fill at 9:00 in the morning, and then back to this side of the state line for my infusion at 11:00. Because they drew blood while I was there today (my whites are up, by the way,) it will speed things up for tomorrow. No waiting for the lab to get the results sent upstairs.
On Thursday, I hope to get a full 8 hours in, and then I have my Neulasta shot at 4 pm. Chemo weeks are SO busy, but it should make it go by quickly. Also, after tomorrow, I can say that I'm halfway done with the A/C portion of my chemo. That's 1/4 of the way done with chemo! Positive thoughts. Positive thoughts. Positive thoughts. Doritos. Hey! How'd THAT get in there? Oh well.
2 comments:
Once again the medical reminder(to me) that all patients are different. When I took the roids(for a different reason) they stopped my migraines(added benefit, as they helped solve another problem as well).
I hope she is right & that you get some relief now.
Ambien is a wonderful thing. Just make sure to follow the instructions to the letter, such as, "Do not take until horizontal".
I gave my former boyfriend who was 3X my size two for a redeye from Vegas. He not only didn't realize the plane had taken off, the flight attendant had to wake him when it landed.
Heh, lightweight. At least you'll get some sleep! Sleep is awesome!
Love ya!
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