Taxol 7/12

I'm over halfway done with my first chemo, Taxol!  I've done 7 of the 12 infusions, and my body is handling them well so far.  I saw my MedOnc earlier this week, and she's really pleased that I'm showing no signs of neuropathy thus far.  The ice gloves and ice socks, painful as they are, seem to be doing what they're supposed to.  I continue to have fatigue with each infusion, though usually that's better by the last couple days of the week.  I've had headaches and bone/joint pain, but the Tramadol prescription helps with that.  I've had some nausea and heartburn, but the Nexium and Zofran help with that.  And my hair has thinned terribly (and my eyebrows and lashes are starting to go), but the... nope - nothing can help with that!

I've had some pretty bad pain on my right side in my ribs, exactly where I had it when I was diagnosed, and I talked to my MedOnc about that, also.  She's not concerned, but is going to order an ultrasound to check on it.  She did an exam, and can no longer feel the tumors!  That's a great sign that the chemo is working and the tumors are shrinking.  Since the chemo is working, the cancer shouldn't be growing, which means I shouldn't have to worry about it metastasizing right now, so the rib pain shouldn't be bone mets.  It's probably just residual pain from the tumor(s) breaking down.

I'm continuing to lose a tiny bit of weight each week.  Not enough to really concern me, but frustrating all the same when I'm trying to keep my weight up right now.  I simply have had no appetite.  I have had a few cravings, but usually when I finally think of something that sounds good, it's not something that we have on hand.  It's no good craving cinnamon coffee cake when it's 10:30pm, or a chocolate layer cake when you don't have the ingredients on hand.  Sweets have sounded a lot better than anything savory, so you would think I'd be putting on weight, but nope.

Today is Saturday, and I'm exhausted.  I'm in that frustrating stage where I just want something to make me feel better - but nothing sounds good to eat, I'm too tired to do anything, somehow not sleepy, and feel too "sick" to want to do anything.  I'm no fun to be around right now.  But Jamie took the kids to the park and to run some errands, and he's bringing a latte back with him, so I'll be doing better soon.

Halfway done with my first chemo!