Friday
Jul052013
Chemo Round 53
Friday, July 5, 2013 at 11:44AM
As usual, I’ll start this blog post with an apology for the delay. Remember the good old days when I’d post every day? Ah, the early days of my Stage IV cancer-killing adventures when taking my medicine and writing blog posts and taking care of myself and beating the odds were my only daily tasks. Not these days, my dear readers. Anyway, enough reminiscing – let’s get down to business and talk about Chemo Round 53.
Round 53 was a definite improvement compared to Round 52. The slight tweak in my chemo regimen from FOLFIRI and Avastin to FOLFIRI and Zaltrap knocked me back a bit last round, but I got back to my fighting form this time around. Major, major props go to my parents for their round-the-clock offering of food and drink and back rubs. Infusion went smoothly, but almost immediately after I left Norris, a gross headache began to roll through. This wasn’t too different from the usual “holy crap my body just took in a ton of medicine” headache, but was slightly worse. As time wore on, I just felt grosser. As I rested at home, my parents suggested that I go over their place for this round. Chemo side effects are made even worse when I’m hot or in a stuffy place, and my house is practically all windows which makes keeping it really cool in 100 degree weather not the easiest task on the planet. Plus, why not take the opportunity for a little parental R&R?! So I accepted. Turns out that it was a very good call.
My parents kept the house ice cold, cooked up the best food that even a chemo-guzzling warrior with a limited appetite wanted to eat, and took care of every sore shoulder or lower back ache. I felt pretty gross on Monday night and on Tuesday morning, but when Tuesday night came around, the headache lifted. I was still fatigued, but not having to contend with the headache made eating, resting, and emailing a lot easier. The headache stayed gone, and I got through Chemo Wednesday without any issues. By Thursday, I was up and running – we did a special film shoot for The Wunder Project (a very short film that I’ll be unveiling soon) and I was up to the task of looking into the camera and doing my thing.
Since then, I’ve been on a roll – taking care of Wunder Project business, enjoying the 4th of July in my kiddie pool, and generally making cancer feel like an underachiever. After nearly 3 continuous years of surgery/chemo/surgery/chemo/surgery/chemo/radiation while doing chemo/chemo, this cancer-killing adventure of mine has been a marathon but, luckily, I’m a bit of an Ironwoman.
In this boxing match between me and this disease, when there’s only one of us left standing, best believe it’s going to be me.
Round 53 was a definite improvement compared to Round 52. The slight tweak in my chemo regimen from FOLFIRI and Avastin to FOLFIRI and Zaltrap knocked me back a bit last round, but I got back to my fighting form this time around. Major, major props go to my parents for their round-the-clock offering of food and drink and back rubs. Infusion went smoothly, but almost immediately after I left Norris, a gross headache began to roll through. This wasn’t too different from the usual “holy crap my body just took in a ton of medicine” headache, but was slightly worse. As time wore on, I just felt grosser. As I rested at home, my parents suggested that I go over their place for this round. Chemo side effects are made even worse when I’m hot or in a stuffy place, and my house is practically all windows which makes keeping it really cool in 100 degree weather not the easiest task on the planet. Plus, why not take the opportunity for a little parental R&R?! So I accepted. Turns out that it was a very good call.
My parents kept the house ice cold, cooked up the best food that even a chemo-guzzling warrior with a limited appetite wanted to eat, and took care of every sore shoulder or lower back ache. I felt pretty gross on Monday night and on Tuesday morning, but when Tuesday night came around, the headache lifted. I was still fatigued, but not having to contend with the headache made eating, resting, and emailing a lot easier. The headache stayed gone, and I got through Chemo Wednesday without any issues. By Thursday, I was up and running – we did a special film shoot for The Wunder Project (a very short film that I’ll be unveiling soon) and I was up to the task of looking into the camera and doing my thing.
Since then, I’ve been on a roll – taking care of Wunder Project business, enjoying the 4th of July in my kiddie pool, and generally making cancer feel like an underachiever. After nearly 3 continuous years of surgery/chemo/surgery/chemo/surgery/chemo/radiation while doing chemo/chemo, this cancer-killing adventure of mine has been a marathon but, luckily, I’m a bit of an Ironwoman.
In this boxing match between me and this disease, when there’s only one of us left standing, best believe it’s going to be me.
Reader Comments