Friday 4.4.2008

Day 17, Treatment #4

Another workday. I slept back in our room last night. I was surprisingly comfortable. As soon as I am snuggled in and dozing off, there it is...hot. Ok. Uncover, breathe, and after about 10 minutes, I'm chilled again. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I was reading in the book "Living Through Breast Cancer" that one of the ways to identify if a medication was working against the hot flashes is to keep a diary of them. Like, how many do you have in a day/night, what time of day, what were you doing, what foods have you eaten, etc. When I read about counting how many you have, I laughed. Shoot, I'd need a clicker counter in my hand throughout the 24 hours to keep track of them! I think the only thing that triggers these hots is the fact that I've had chemotherapy. I certainly experience them around the clock. At this point, I'm not ready to try adding a medication to try to decrease them, but I do think that Dr. Bolmer would be happy to write a prescription if/when I ask. Maybe when these other meds and radiation have cleared....

I feel much better today. Still not 100%, but pretty good. My head is finally clearing, and I was able to walk a little faster. Also bending over, and turning around. Still not at "normal" speed, but at least I can move.

I also noticed that my head hair seems to be "shedding" a lot, as well as my eyebrows. I was scratching an itch on my left eyebrow, and there were many hairs on my finger. Hm. And yesterday my lips peeled again. Very odd, this chemotherapy.

Daniel's Crud sounds like it is loosening, and he is able to expectorate (spit out) what he is coughing up. He says he's still tired, but doesn't that go along with it???

I love the hugs. The smiles and kind words, you make me feel like God has given me a gift.

Thank you.