Day 11 is NOT My Friend

I guess there's something to be said for knowing what to expect.  I know that days 7-11 are my "nadir" period, or the lowest point for my blood counts.  You may remember day 11 of my last round, which is when I had the nosebleed at work and they had me come in to get blood drawn.  Well, today is day 11.  Guess what happened?

Kevin's mom came up to visit for a couple of days, bringing his sister's son with her.  They headed home late this morning, and we decided to go grab something to eat.  I was starving, and we don't eat out that often, so we decided on 54th Street, which is always a favorite of my girls.  Kevin planned to go to the store afterward, and I knew that my stamina is too low and that I'd best come straight home after eating, so we took two cars.

Natalie and I climbed into my car, and before I was three blocks from home, the nose started bleeding.  I have been keeping Kleenex in the car, thank goodness.  (When you lose your hair, that includes the tiny hairs in your nose, so it tends to be drippy.  TMI?  Sorry.)  Anyway, I turned quickly into the church that we were passing by, and Kevin followed to see what was up.

I came home and told them to go without me, but he didn't want to.  I shouldn't really be in the public right now, anyway, due to germs, but I was awfully hungry.  LOL  He offered to go get something for me to eat before they went, but I didn't want to make them wait.  Finally, I told him that, if it didn't stop in five minutes, they were leaving without me and I'd eat something at home.

Four minutes later, it finally stopped.  Of course, when I lose that much blood (it was a LOT,) I get a horrible headache (way worse than my daily headache) and get completely worn out.  Still, I was hungry, so we went.  My stomach won an argument with my good sense.  I know I'm supposed to call if that happens, but I called last time and they said my blood counts were OK.  I didn't call.

We ate, it was good, and now I'm home.  What a giant pain in the ass this is going to be.  I suppose there are worse things than a bi-weekly bloody nose.  The bright side is that my hair is almost completely gone, so I can stop shedding everywhere.  I'm tired of THAT little treat, too.  I guess it's karma for all the times I griped at my dogs for shedding in the house.

FOOD!

Not much of a post.  I still have a headache today, but not nearly as bad as yesterday.  Also, there were two different 1-hour segments in which I'm certain it was gone.  I don't know if my friend Susie's chocolate and diet Coke cure worked, but it was fun to try.

This afternoon, I had a craving for chips, so I hit the vending machine.  Not only did I buy a bag of Sun Chips, but I ate them, too!  And they were good!  I thought myself lucky to have enjoyed something after craving it, and then I headed home.  Kevin fixed my a/c last night, so the ride home was much more comfortable, and I noticed that I was kinda hungry.  Hungry for anything.

I came home and had leftovers from last night, and it was good!  Sweet merciful crap!  I think I like food again.   I hope this wasn't a one-day deal.  I'm full for the first time in a week.  It would be nice to know that the appetite thing is something that I only have to deal with for one week out of the two-week chemo cycle.  We'll see.