I Have to be More Careful

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.

I Can Drive!

As is typical of me, I do a lot of online research about EVERYTHING.  When it comes to something that directly effects my health, you can multiply that research infinitely.  I even found an amazing online community to join at http://breastcancer.org/ where you can join in message  board type chats, as well as search for answers.

I noticed a lot of folks on there who were driving themselves around, even though they had a JP drain (or multiples) in place.  This piqued my curiosity, so I emailed my handy-dandy PS nurse Terri to ask.  The only restriction on my driving is the pain pills.  What???  I could have been driving for two weeks!  As soon as she answered, I jumped in the car and left.

My poor car has been parked under the neighbor's trees for a while, and was so covered in bird dookie that it was hideous.  The girls and I laughed pretty hard about it and made the car wash my first stop. Due to a very generous donation, my windshield has been replaced (from the deer damage-no more duct tape) and getting it clean felt great.

From there, we hit Sonic's Happy Hour for drinks, and then to WalMart.  It wasn't long before I realized it may have been a bit too soon to run errands on an afternoon in which I had not napped.  Seriously?  The first day in weeks that I don't nap, and I decide to run around driving?  DUH!

I really thought it would be OK, even though I have a standard transmission, since that uses my right arm, and my left arm is the one that doesn't work.  WRONG!  I guess I actually use my left arm quite a bit.  Part of the reason for that is that NOTHING in my car is automatic.  Windows, locks, etc all need to be worked manually.  With a non-working air conditioner, that meant rolling the windows up and down a few times.

Anyway, I drove.  I can drive.  I'll be careful not to overdo it, and to maybe go earlier in the day, so I still have time to nap when I get home.  In other news:  Jaxson only gave up 10cc this morning (after nearly 12 hours) so it's looking like we might have an improvement there, too!  Fingers crossed!