A brief snippet of conversation over two steaming bowls of Cream of Wheat, approximately twenty minutes ago:

The Husband: "Do you want some craisins for your Cream of Wheat?"

Me: "No, I don't want to puke up any little red things later on."

The Husband: "That's a bit morbid, but I see your point."

UPDATE 8:19 p.m. 4/20/07: Just for the record, no, I haven't thrown up.

Not once.

That was me being paranoid. They've got me on three different anti-nausea drugs, decadron, ativan, and compazine, and they seem to be doing the trick, even if they all have their own little side effects associated with them, like drowsiness, fatigue, and a complete loss of appetite, and in the case of the decadron (which I had to take at three different, specific, times yesterday, before this even started) a flushed face, anxiety and sleeplessness. (Yeah, so last night was a real joy, because I had to take it at ten and wake myself up at four in the freakin' morning to take another dose.) But I haven't puked. And the oncologist swears that I won't, provided I keep up with these medications over the next three days. My job, as the RN pointed out to me right now, was just to stay on top of the medication (i.e. don't wait until the symptoms show up and then take it) and to rest, and I should be fine by Tuesday, when most of the drugs will have worked their way through my system.

The chemo procedure itself was, well, pretty boring, on the whole. It took about five hours, all told, to receive the drugs via IV---and I received them in a very swank recliner, in a room full of about twenty-five other people, receiving their own chemo regimens, who all had their own swank recliners. It was sort of like day camp for sick people, but instead of doing arts and craft projects, we all watched tee vee, read, listened to iPods, or, in the case of the husband and myself, we played a game of travel Scrabble, wherein I kicked his bony little ass by about fifty points. (That's what happens when you get stuck with the 'Q' at the end, after having already been beaten into submission by a few triple word scores.) Fortunately, I didn't have any allergic reactions to the drugs, and tolerated them well, except for when they pushed a half-sized bag of the decadron into my system and I thought I was having an hour long hot flash, but, again, that's just a side effect of the drug and it was remedied by a cold washcloth to the back of my neck. I tolerated the three hour taxol drip well, but by the time the half-hour carboplatin drip was done, the last bag of the day, I wasn't feeling so well, sort of like I had the beginnings of a bad case of stomach flu. Fortunately, we were on our way home and in and out of Walgreens, with all of my prescriptions, in a shot. And, within fifteen minutes, I had compazine in my system and it started working immediately. Enough for me to take a long nap. Which felt good, considering I had very little sleep last night.

So, all in all, it's going better than I expected. Which is good, because I kind of low-balled my expectations, assuming the worst. What I now have to look forward to is being immuno-compromised by next weekend, possible anemia, potential decreased white cell count (furthering the problems with my immune system), complete hair loss within three weeks, and, perhaps, neuropathies in my hands and feet from the taxol. We'll just have to see how it all shakes out.

Just in time for my next chemo session, three weeks from today.

Good fun, no?

And, just remember, my devoted Cake Eater readers, I'm already cancer free.

I ask again: good fun, no?

What's that line about the cure being worse than the disease?

And, Robbo, craisins are simply dried cranberries. They look just like raisins. Except they're red.

Posted by: Kathy at 07:43 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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The husband and I attended "Chemo Class" at the oncologist's office this morning. During class they give you the rundown on what will be happening to you during the treament, how you will feel afterwards and what the major side effects of chemo are. We toured the treatment room, we chatted about wearing jewelry during treatment (You shouldn't, just in case you're allergic to the chemo. They don't want to have to cut your rings off.), hair loss, skin and nail care, mouth care, infections, and, most importantly, nutrition. They then tell you that nutrition can be a major factor in how you feel, and that it can help control some of the adverse effects of chemo. The class was mainly a primer and they sent us home with a boatload of literature, neatly organized in its own expandable envelope. One little booklet from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, titled, "Eating Hints for Cancer Patients: Before, During and After Treatment," has some wonderfully helpful tips I'm sure we'll be using during all of this.

What I found interesting were the tips they gave in case you should lose weight and need to get your calorie count back up. They're simple, helpful tips to boost your count without having to eat more food---which might be an issue as appetite loss can be a problem. The last thing you want to have to do when you have no appetite is eat more. They include things like:

• switching to whole milk


• making fortified milk with whole milk and powdered milk


• add sour cream to cream soups


• folding unsweetened whipped cream into mashed potatoes (ed. heavy whipping cream has six grams of fat per tablespoon. Don't ask I how know this.)


• make hot chocolate with cream and add marshmallows


• melt cheese on top of casseroles, potatoes and vegetables


• add cheese to omelets and sandwiches


• use melted butter or margarine as a dip for seafoods, such as lobster, crab, scallops and shrimp


• stir melted butter into cream soups, sauces and gravies

I could go on, but I think you get the gist. What the cardiologist loathes, the oncologist loves.

Heh.

Posted by: Kathy at 08:24 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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I finally, finally find a product that controls my curly hair and now it's all going to fall out in approximately three weeks.

Go freakin' figure.

You just can't win if you've got curly hair. Really. It sucks trying to find something that tames the wild beast that is the mop on your head. And you try everything that comes down the pike. Believe you me, straight-haired people of the world, you'll never have the product problems I have had over the years. But I found something. And it works. It does what it says it's going to do. And you, who have had the ol' bait and switch pulled on you too many times to count when it comes to "frizz control" have a hard time believing it. And when you finally believe it, you jump for joy, secure in the knowledge that, unless the company goes bust, your hair worries are at an end for the time being.

Then, of course, because God enjoys a good laugh every now and again, you get cancer and have to have chemo. Which makes your curly hair fall out. And then the doctor tells you it may grow back in differently. The color may be different. The texture may be different.

At which point, if you've got my luck, you'll probably be stuck with a whole lot of product made to tame curly hair you no longer have. Probably.

Alanis Morrissette should write a song or something.

Posted by: Kathy at 09:20 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Or, Why It's Generally Considered a Bad Idea to Chat With an Oncologist Whilst High on Percocet.

If you're interested, take the jump.

(Parts One and Two of the Neverending Ovarian Cancer/Hysterectomy saga can be found here and here.) more...

Posted by: Kathy at 02:14 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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