Ugh! Made it through my first cycle of Chemo.

I wrote some of this on Friday and Saturday....

So...on Thursday I was imagining that I was having Chemo side effects but as of Friday afternoon I think I know what they are now. They are actually not that bad. The most annoying is the nausea. It's hard to get a handle on so far. When I am hungry I am nauseous. If I eat too quickly I am nauseous. If I wait too long to take my anti nausea pill I am nauseous. If I try to watch TV or talk to people when I am nauseous I get more nauseous. You get the idea.

I have a better handle on it today though. Not eating as fast. Taking little bites often throughout the day. Sitting up for a while after eating. Although I am getting the hang of it I feel like there is not much "feeling good" time. I am either eating to not feel nauseous or resting to not feel nauseous.

Now it is Thursday and I am pretty much back to myself. Saturday ended up being a really hard day. I did not have a good handle on the nausea. I ended up paging the doctor on Saturday night for help and he told me to take another pill. I was instructed to only take two per day but the doctor said that on my bad days that I could take up to four. I think that will help next time.

So, my week looked like this:
Wednesday - Chemo. Felt fine.
Thursday - felt fine.
Friday afternoon I started feeling nauseous.
Saturday - felt awful. I would like to forget about Saturday.
Sunday - felt like Friday which was way better than Saturday.
Monday - felt even better. Food still didn't settle well but was able to work my way up to noodles instead of crackers. Any other foods upset my stomach. I was tired and weak.
Tuesday - was the same way.
Wednesday - I was exhausted but I could finally eat whatever I wanted without upsetting my stomach. The problem was that nothing sounded good. The chemo has left a metallic taste in my mouth making everything taste off and bland.

Today is the same way. I get hungry but I don't feel like eating because so far nothing tastes good. Actually, what tastes good are either really salty or really sweet foods. I make myself eat even though I don't want to and I try to make myself eat something healthy to make up for the chemo days.

So, far my side effects have been: loss of appetite, bloody nose, night sweats and as of today hot flashes. That freaked me out. My face was bright red and I felt like it was on fire. My students kept asking me why my face was so red.

My next cycle will be on Wednesday, Feb. 18th. They say I will start loosing my hair a few days before then. I will be shaving my head in one week so that the hair loss will not be too drastic.

Thanks for reading.

Judy