I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was great. Because my family had the flu the week before and because my platelets were too low for chemotherapy that week, I decided that it would be too risky to go in for chemo the week of Christmas. I couldn’t get hold of my oncologist to ask his permission, so I just cancelled the appointment he had scheduled for me the following week. I talked to his nurse later and she said that it was better to skip and extra week than to risk fighting the flu right after a chemotherapy treatment.
So, because I was feeling good, I was able to enjoy Christmas and also Joshua’s birthday, which was Dec. 23rd. I also managed to escape the flu, so I feel very fortunate! I had #9 on Dec. 1st, and didn’t have #10 until Dec. 30th. My body really needed the break. I was able to catch up on my sleeping as well. The steroids they give me to fight the nausea really affect my sleeping patterns, so it was nice to have a break from those drugs as well. Now I hope I can get through the last 2 on time to be done with chemo at the end of this month.
I was able to bounce back from this treatment quickly, even though after each one I always tell myself I can’t make it through another one. We are celebrating Alyssa’s birthday this weekend, so I’m glad I’m feeling pretty good. It takes the entire two weeks for me to feel better, so I was shocked that I made it through 5 treatments back to back without extra time off. I was glad to pound through a few of these!
Since I still do all the “normal” things that moms do, I doubt my kids have gotten a clear picture on how bad chemotherapy is. In a way it’s good because I don’t want them to be stressed out and worried. But I do want them to understand that they need to take care of themselves to try to avoid having to go through this, especially since they may be at risk genetically. I do take the time to rest when I need it, but on those days, I lay around waiting for night time to come so I can take my medicines to knock me out for the night. Thank God for those! When I’m feeling better, I need to keep busy to help keep my mind off of the chemo and to make the time go by faster. However, I don’t have to worry about having things to do. When you are down for days, there is plenty of work that is piled up. I am thankful that I could take the time off of work to make it through these challenging 6 months. I don’t know how people work through chemotherapy; my hat goes off to them! It’s nice knowing I can take a day to do nothing when I need to.
Robert has been doing well. He is anxious for me to get these last two finished and be done with chemo. He told me he would have quit after #9, but I told him I am driven to finish the entire course because I want to do whatever it takes to avoid going through this again……as if I had a choice to quit early!!!
May God bless all of you in 2010! I am looking foraward to a fresh start..........That's February for me (the end of chemo and, ironically, the month of my birthday as well.) =)
