How Have I Been Feeling?

Sorry about the blog blackout...it's been kind of a busy week. To make amends, here's an extra-long post about my first Taxol treatment, which was last Friday.

The treatment took basically all day: we* got there at 10am and finished somewhere around 5pm.

(*When I say "we" I mean me, my hubby, my mom, and my fave aunt. My dad also came, 'tho he arrived a bit later. I basically had an entourage.)

The treatment itself went fine. As I mentioned, this drug doesn't cause nausea, so the main risk was just getting psychologically induced nausea from things like the smell of rubbing alcohol. At the advice of a family friend, I went armed with spearmint tea and gum and, for good measure, held my nose whenever rubbing alcohol was being used--which is twice: once when they take my blood for the blood test and once when they access the port to start the treatment. And it worked! No nausea. Yay!

The main concern with Taxol is that you can have an allergic reaction. NOT, they tell me, to the Taxol itself but to whatever its mixed with to administer it. So they gave me a major IV dose of Benadryl. Which meant I pretty much napped thru the treatment.

By the time we got home the Benadryl was wearing off and I was pretty hungry from not having eaten much all day. (Hey, it was an achievement not getting nauseous--the thought of eating during treatment was not at all appetizing. I had a little fruit salad.) So the hubby, mom and I went to the St. Ann's Italian Festival here in the 6th Borough. It's the 97th annual festival featuring world-famous zeppoles made from a closely guarded recipe (the hubby has a hunch...he thinks they fry the dough). So we had sausage and pepper sandwiches and zeppoles and they were YUMMY.

Friday night I fell asleep pretty easily around 10pm, but woke up at 2am and couldn't get back to sleep until 6. Not kidding. I think it was from the steroids, which is another pre-med they give (with the Benadryl). Finally managed to go back to bed and slept until 9am, so in my own fashion managed a full night's sleep.

Saturday: I still felt pretty OK. Just a little tired. So we went over to my aunt's for an impromptu BBQ, which was a lot of fun.

Saturday night: I administered my Neulasta shot (yuk).

Sunday: spent a quiet day at home reading the new Harry Potter.

Monday: I was still feeling pretty tired--and knew I'd be having a busy couple of days at work mid-week--so took a sick day.

Monday night: The bone pain started. Bone pain is a potential side effect of both the Taxol and the Neulasta. Had weird bone/joint pain sort of all over but especially in my ankles and the tops of my feet. Very weird. And very hard to sleep.

Tuesday: Worked from home in the morning, then went to PT and then to work. (Picked up our CSA veggies on the way home and made a locally grown, sustainably farmed salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and chives. Yum! Ate it with pasta salad w/garlic scape pesto...also from the farm.)

Tuesday night: Took a Vicodin left over from my surgery and slept MUCH better.

Wednesday: Felt much more like my normal self. Which was good because we were having a training that I had organized and I needed to be at work a) on time and b) all day.

Wednesday night: Slept fine. No painkillers needed.

Thursday: Day two of the training.

Thursday night: Went out to dinner with friends in our old 'hood. Had a wonderful time. Life is basically back to normal (until the next treatment).

That brings us pretty much up to date...