The Third AC and Lab Results

Friday, December 30, 2005: I had my third AC treatment back on December 20. I did take the atavan this time, but they gave me half the dose. I liked that much better. I did my treatment on Tuesday so that maybe I will feel good for Christmas. The treatment went well. I don't have much of a problem with mouth sores but I do have them occasionally. I put ice chips in my mouth while the nurse injected the adriamycin and I didn't get any this time. Really strange how that works, but they say that it can. After treatment, I went home and took a long nap. Jason was at home to watch over me and Robert usually tries to come home from work early on those days. For the first 2 treatments I always felt good the next day, but this time I felt yucky on Wednesday. I had no appetite whatsoever on Wed. or Thursday. I think I just ate toast, toast with a little jelly and toast again. Oh yea, and Lucky Charms cereal (!?). On Thursday night I wanted some good brocolli cheese soup from Panera Bread that we had while mom and Larry were here. Boy, it sounded so good to me. It was late at night so Robert fixed me some from Campbells--not the same. It had a metallic taste to it (a side effect) and I don't know if I will be able to eat again. They say to not eat any of your favorite foods right after chemo because you might get sick, or it taste funny and you can develop an aversion to it. Anyway, I did pretty good this time. I started feeling better on Friday and ate more normal foods. I don't have a strong appetite for about a week after chemo. I always seem to loose a few pounds in the first week and a half after chemo, but regain my appetite and put them back on in the second week and a half before my next treatment. We went over to my dad's for Christmas Eve. We have started doing appetizers instead of the traditional meal since we just did it at Thanksgiving. Then the four of us went to eat at a place called Kennedy for Christmas night. I really enjoyed it. Since school started, it has been really hectic and even though we eat together a lot as a family it is often rushed and hurried. The four of us ate together and had a really good and relaxing time. I have had a great week this past week. I started to feel a little more fatigued than usual on the 27th and the 28th. Then I had my labs done on the 29th. My red blood cell count went down below normal for the first time. A drop in red blood cells causes anemia and this causes fatigue. It is not in the danger zone so I don't have to take any shots to try and raise it like I do the white blood cells. My white blood cells were low but it is the first time that I haven't had to be put on antibiotics and given the " no fresh fruits and vegies, no buffet etc." speech. My WBC count is 3.0 and if it is lower than 3.0 then they put you on antibiotics. I can't imagine what my white blood cell count would be if it weren't for neulasta. If it is in the 2.5-3.0 with neulasta than I suspect it would be really low without it and that could have meant a lot of quarentines for me. My fourth and LAST AC treatment is on Jan. 11. I am so excited for this part to be over. Since I have already had a little bit of taxol treatment, I know that the side effects will be mild compared to this. Oh yea, funny story. Another side effect of chemo is that is puts you into menopause. I was burning up on Monday. I didn't have a hot flash, I had a hot hour. I couldn't get cooled down. I wanted to take Allison to work and go over to Pottery Barn to check out their sales. It has been warm here but we had strong winds that day. I put on shorts and a tshirt and headed out. When I got the Pottery Barn at the District, everyone was in jackets and sweaters, sweatsuits. I was just beginning to get comfortable! People were looking at me like I was nuts. I was so out of place I just went home. They only had Christmas stuff marked down 30% anyway! Everyone please have a SAFE and HAPPY NEW YEAR! We have no plans yet. We tend to not make plans until the last minute since I have no idea how I will feel. Robert is picking up a prime rib from the butchers today though. YUM!

The Second AC

Monday, December19: Boy, I can't believe the last three weeks have flown by! I will have my third treatment tomorrow and I haven't even updated from the last one! I guess it went by so fast because I haven't been feeling very good. I had my last chemo on Wed. Nov. 30th. I did not have the atavan (the stuff that put me to sleep) this time because I wanted to try and go to Allison's dance show at school. Well, I think I like the atavan. I didn't feel good the rest of the day and couldn't go to her show anyway. I would rather sleep through the day than to feel yucky. I was not nauseous, just yucky feeling. I felt better on Thursday and went to see Allison on that day. ( She was awsome up on stage) I started feeling bad on Friday again, just like last time. I stayed home. I never got sick, just a yucky feeling all over my body. I also had a shot of neulasta in my arm. My arm got hard at the site of the injection. Then Saturday, I felt awful. I took a lortab thinking that would make my body feel better. I didn't realize that my regular doctor increased the milligrams from 5 mg to 7.5mg. I think I over medicated and I was so nauseous. The neulasta also causes pain in your bones. I felt it in my spine and lower back on Friday and Saturday. It was not as bad as what I was expecting. I guess I always think the worst and then it turns out not to be too bad. Mom and Larry were coming in that night and I thought for sure I would feel terrible. But, about when it was time for the lortab to start wearing off I started feeling better and was able to eat, which helped out a lot. By the time mom and Larry got here in the evening I was feeling almost normal. But than came Sunday morning. I started coughing and coughed all day every few minutes. It was a dry cough that really bothered my throat. I called the oncologists office in the afternoon and the doctor on call told me to try robitussin. I slept well through the night but it really didn't help my cough too much. By the end of Monday my chest and throat hurt from coughing so I called the oncologist and they told me to come in Tuesday morning to see the doctor and to check my labs. They called in an antibiotic for me to go ahead and start. Dr. Allison is at another office on Tuesdays so I saw her nurse practitioner. She said my labs were not too bad. My white blood cell count was 2.9. I did not have a fever and my chest sounded fine. She gave me some robitussin with codeine to help me sleep because I didn't sleep the night before. (That didn't help that much either.) I got the same advice as the last time: no fresh fruits or vegies, no buffets, stay way from sick people. I was sick the whole time mom and Larry were here. I lost my voice and my throat was just horribly raw. The mouth sores on top of a sore throat were so painful. I finally started to feel a little better on Friday. Which I was glad because I was going to call the doctor back if I didn't. I just couldn't go all weekend with the way I was feeling. We all went to Jason s football game on Saturday and I guess that messed me up again because I started feeling really bad. You know what a big mouth I have and I think I probably yelled, accidentally, a few times during the game. ( they won their game, making it an undefeated season. They played in the championship game winning 48-0) That made my throat flare up again where I couldn't hardly swallow. I spent all day Sunday hardly speaking again because my throat was so sore. Mom and Larry left early Monday morning and we really didn't get to do anything all week because of my cold. Mom cooked almost every night. I felt better on Sunday night and we did head out to Claimjumper for dinner. (Love their prime rib!! Although, I think mine was undercooked that night. Allison ate some of mine and we both had upset stomachs the next day and had to take imodium AD) I kept my sore throat and congestion for the rest of the week. My throat finally started feeling better Saturday, two weeks after it started. The white blood cells bottom out on day 10 after chemo. After a few days they start to rise on the own so I think that that finally gave me enough to fight whatever I had going on. Just in time for another round of chemo!