Side Effects (will be updated from time to time)

10/25/2013

Crash

Thursday, October 17 was my second chemo treatment – day 1 of the second cycle.  No problems.  Until Monday, day 5. Everything was great until late afternoon. Then CRASH.  I was in bed by 7:00 p.m. Monday night. Tuesday and Wednesday I probably slept almost 20 hours each day. I was completely useless. By Thursday afternoon it was back to normal.  Very weird.  Thursday’s blood work showed a White Blood Cell count of 0.  No surprise there. 

So far the most annoying side effect is not being able to taste anything. Neal asks what I’d like him to cook, but it doesn’t really much matter as long as it isn’t crunchy.  Crunchy stuff hurts.  

 

All in all, I’m very lucky so far to still have mild side effects













10/19/2013

Shaved my head.  There's a separate post called "hair loss (lost) with before and after pics

10/17/2013

Side effects are setting in but they are still mild. 

My taste buds have pretty much stopped working.  If you’ve ever had that numb feeling after burning your tongue with hot coffee, etc. that’s more or less what it’s like but all over.  Bland stuff has no taste at all.  Aromatic foods like onion, garlic, and some herbs stimulate my sense of smell and a sense of flavor.  Neal made Rosemary Chicken the other night and I savored every bite. 

My mouth is getting quite tender but I haven’t developed any sores yet, thank God.  It’s bad news because I love crunchy things, but it hurts to eat them. I let my Cheerios get good and soggy. 

Last week when I had blood work done, my white cell count was 1.  It should be 14 – 16.  I got a stern warning about not ignoring any fever.  I also got a prescription for a high dose of Cipro antibiotic to try to fend off any infection.  This one scared me.  But I feel good and my temperature remains normal.

I’ve finally begun losing my hair.  I don’t think it’s very noticeable yet, but a couple of more shampoos will probably take care of much of the rest of it; and I’ll have the stragglers shaved off. The good news here is that the American Cancer Society offer free wigs, scarves and caps to cancer patients. (Also bras) They’re new and come in about every color, length and style. I got two. Photos will follow in a later post when I figure out how to style them. There's a hairdresser in town who will provide one free styling - I'll probably give him a try.