Ugh. Just "ugh".

So today was supposed to be my 7th treatment. Thus leaving me (after this weekend) with only 4 more to go. But alas, thanks to the Federal government not reimbursing providers at a decent level for Medicaid patients…my lovely clinic will no longer be open on Sundays to “un-plug” me from my chemo pump. So that means that a little bit more than ½ way through my treatments I have to switch days.

My initial schedule worked out SO well. I would go in on Friday mornings, have my labs run, and get hooked up to the IV for 5 hours. I would work while I was there and then I would go home in a nauseated haze and crash for the rest of the day. Saturday was usually spent in bed and Sunday was usually a little better.

Well now I have switch to Wednesdays. That means that I will go in on Wednesday morning, get my labs and chemo and work remotely. Then I will probably go home and CRASH and then get up on Thursday morning and haul it into work in a nauseated haze. Then Friday I will get up and go to the doctor’s office, get un-plugged and then haul it into work where I will suffer through the rest of the day feeling exhausted and nauseated. Great. Just flipping GREAT. That should make the last 2 months of treatment seem really special.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining that I get another weekend pump-free. That is nice. It’s probably not a bad deal that I have to wait until Wednesday for my treatment since my platelets were so low this week. My platelets have been progressively getting lower which is not uncommon at this point in treatment. However…if they get much lower I may be forced to undergo a transfusion OR a very unpleasant treatment that would cause my bone marrow to over produce the platelets…but at a VERY painful price to me. Some people who have experienced that say it feels like every bone in your body is exploding one at a time. That doesn’t sound very pleasant to me…so I think I’ll work at avoiding that experience.

Last weekend, over Memorial Day, I went to visit my nephews in Midland, TX. That is just a hot, desolate place. But we had SO MUCH FUN there! I haven’t seen my nephews since Thanksgiving. This was not our year to see them at Christmas and immediately after the holidays was when I was diagnosed. So we’ve been hesitant at seeing them since they are little walking Petri dishes and always seem to be sick. But lucky the only thing I came back with was a stuffy nose due to allergies, which had not bothered me (thank you chemo!) until just now.

The side effects of the chemo are still what you would expect. I still have the tingling in my hands if I touch something cold. My mouth still feels like it’s electrified if I drink something cold. However the cold sensation dissipated fairly quickly this time. Today I’m actually drinking an icy Sonic drink for the first time since I started the chemo and it is glorious! I find that the straw helps. It somehow, maybe, warms up as it travels up the straw and makes it far easier to consume. I haven’t had any mouth or nose sores since the 2nd treatment. I’m still able to eat just about anything I want. That is good as I have to keep eating lots of leafy green veggies to keep the hemoglobin up.

I was kind of naughty last weekend and sat in the sun, un-sun screened, for about 15 minutes. I got pretty baked. It was NOT a pretty sight and I totally got busted for it today by the PA. She came in and immediately said ”You got some sun this weekend didn’t you,” in a very accusatory tone. I thought it had faded to a nice color but I guess they are trained to hawk-eye that. She gave me the same lecture on being really careful in the sun when I’m on the F-U5. I guess I’ll have to be REALLY careful this weekend when I go to the lake. HA!

The other thing that I’ve been curious about this week was swimming. Can I swim with my port where it is? I forgot to ask the PA today so I decided to email the man who put it in…Hot Surgeon. I figured if anyone would know the answer to that it would be Hot Surgeon. So we shall see what he says. Ohh Hot Surgeon how I miss you!

So we’ll see how next week goes with chemo in the middle of the week. At least I won’t have to haul the pump around all weekend. Yippee.