Why Not Now?
When I told my oncologist at my appointment Friday that I wanted to resume the single-agent Adriamycin chemo as soon as possible so we will know once and for all if it's effective for my tumors, he said, "Do you want to do it today?"
At first, I was aghast, and he laughed at the look of stricken horror on my face. He said I could wait until next week or whenever I am ready, mentally and physically. But I thought about the fact that gas is SO expensive and Knoxville is an 80 mile round-trip -- and I realized that if we scheduled it for Monday I would no doubt come home and worry/obsess all weekend about it. (Sometimes "doing" is better than "dreading"!)
So -- I had my first treatment of Adriamycin today, along with a pre-med cocktail of decadron (steroid), benadryl (anti-allergy), aloxin (anti-nausea), and ativan (anti-anxiety). Our nurse was extra nice, and made me feel at ease throughout the process. My port cooperated so they did not have to access any veins.
Yahoo! I'm so happy to have it behind me. I will need a shot of Neulasta on Monday, and blood work next week, but the actual treatments are 3 weeks apart. This means that 2 and 3 are scheduled for May 23rd (yes, graduation day) and June 13th (opening of "Alice in Wonderland").
So far, I am feeling okay. I'm tired, but it's been a LONG day. No nausea yet. I know the difficult days will come, and I will deal with them as they arrive. There's no use worrying into the future, right?
Oh, but there is one more thing that I haven't told you. I've been having terrible back pain again, so bad at night that is hard to sleep; but today the steroid treatment made the pain stop completely. You may remember that this was the reason that the doctors were SURE that I had a spinal tumor when it first paralyzed me in December 2005. They couldn't find it (because they were looking in my lower spine, rather than at the thoracic level), but they were convinced it was there because of 1- the paralysis, and 2 - the fact that the steroid eased the pain when nothing else touched it.
Is it back again? I don't know. I'm just saying that the symptoms are there. We will schedule an MRI for one day next week. Here's hoping that I'm just over-reacting to the pain.
Still, we have reason to celebrate tonight. One cycle down, two to go!
:-) Sharon
At first, I was aghast, and he laughed at the look of stricken horror on my face. He said I could wait until next week or whenever I am ready, mentally and physically. But I thought about the fact that gas is SO expensive and Knoxville is an 80 mile round-trip -- and I realized that if we scheduled it for Monday I would no doubt come home and worry/obsess all weekend about it. (Sometimes "doing" is better than "dreading"!)
So -- I had my first treatment of Adriamycin today, along with a pre-med cocktail of decadron (steroid), benadryl (anti-allergy), aloxin (anti-nausea), and ativan (anti-anxiety). Our nurse was extra nice, and made me feel at ease throughout the process. My port cooperated so they did not have to access any veins.
Yahoo! I'm so happy to have it behind me. I will need a shot of Neulasta on Monday, and blood work next week, but the actual treatments are 3 weeks apart. This means that 2 and 3 are scheduled for May 23rd (yes, graduation day) and June 13th (opening of "Alice in Wonderland").
So far, I am feeling okay. I'm tired, but it's been a LONG day. No nausea yet. I know the difficult days will come, and I will deal with them as they arrive. There's no use worrying into the future, right?
Oh, but there is one more thing that I haven't told you. I've been having terrible back pain again, so bad at night that is hard to sleep; but today the steroid treatment made the pain stop completely. You may remember that this was the reason that the doctors were SURE that I had a spinal tumor when it first paralyzed me in December 2005. They couldn't find it (because they were looking in my lower spine, rather than at the thoracic level), but they were convinced it was there because of 1- the paralysis, and 2 - the fact that the steroid eased the pain when nothing else touched it.
Is it back again? I don't know. I'm just saying that the symptoms are there. We will schedule an MRI for one day next week. Here's hoping that I'm just over-reacting to the pain.
Still, we have reason to celebrate tonight. One cycle down, two to go!
:-) Sharon
posted by Sharon | 12:00 AM
6 Comments:
Keep Stronge Mrs.Leming
Im glad to hear that you are ok so far.
i hope that the treatment is doing well, lets hope it will help you faster. I hope your back pain is nothing more than that.
much love
Sarah
hello Sharon!
good to know that you are doing well and only have 2 more cycles to go. congratulations to the girls for graduating!
i hope your back pain gets better. i used to have really bad back pain too because i had scoliosis. but i got surgery for in january 2007 and now im all good and no pain. so i know how the pain is and back pain is the worst!
oh and gas prices are up to 4 dollars at some stations where we live in southern california! pretty bad huh?!
enjoy the rest of your weekend!
love;
Ashley
move over mr. first treatment, you're outta here! wise decision, wise woman. way to go sharon.
regarding the back pain, i'm glad you've gotten some relief and hope the pain you did have doesn't represent anything serious.
i'm hoping too the various meds you mention make your body's reaction to the treatment bearable or maybe even easy.
oh sharon, i wish i could snap my fingers and wipe away these difficulties for you--i'd even take them on for a bit of time........so that you could live freely as you once did.
best wishes,
lorraine
That a girl! Get'r done in one fell swope. It's a shame they had to schedule your following appoinments on such big days, but hopefully that cocktail they've given you will make you feel better than ever at the graduation, and at the opening of the play! I'm also glad that you're not in any pain lately, but hopefully your speculations are unheeded :)
Hello Sharon
Hope you're feeling a lot better. I think you did the right thing by just getting it over with. And yes, gas prices are so ludicrous. I'm glad I'm driving a hybrid these days.
I also wanted to share this article from Glamour magazine. Andrea Coller was the winner of Glamour's non-fiction writing contest about her experiences with Hodgkins' disease. Reminded me a bit of your blogs
glamour.com/news/articles/2008/05/essay_winner
Hello Sharon. I've been thinking of you and praying your treatment isn't keeping the smile from your beautiful face. Take those little, happy moments that come in between and enjoy them. They will see you through.
Blessings to you and Yours
Jodi
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