I'm a little slow and I'm having trouble keeping count
8/11/14
Most days, I'm satisfied with my level of smarts. Other days, like today, I wonder if I have any at all. I've been going through chemo since the middle of May, I've tracked meds, side effects...blah blah blah. One of those side effects has been raging heartburn for a few days per week. I'm talking the kind of heartburn that is triggered by EVERYTHING, including water. I had a similar experience when I was pregnant with Mattie - not with Gabriel because I was only pregnant with him for about 15 minutes - well, 24 for weeks...same thing. ***Stay with me here. It's going to seem like I'm derailing but I promise I'll bring it all together....you may proceed***
Anyway, on the heartburn days I try to eat and drink milder stuff. It doesn't really help but I keep doing it. As I've mentioned somewhere, there are days that milk and mashed potatoes feel like battery acid. Now, with this round of chemo, I was lead to believe that the nausea would be milder if not nonexistent. My oncologist said that he doubted I would even need any medication. I have been too chicken to stop because the one time I did stop the meds just a little early and got sick, it was not pleasant. Plus, it seemed like the mild nausea I was experiencing was hitting well after treatment. I could not understand why I was feeling nauseated at the end of the cycle...that is, until today. Let's walk through the treatment week, shall we?
Most days, I'm satisfied with my level of smarts. Other days, like today, I wonder if I have any at all. I've been going through chemo since the middle of May, I've tracked meds, side effects...blah blah blah. One of those side effects has been raging heartburn for a few days per week. I'm talking the kind of heartburn that is triggered by EVERYTHING, including water. I had a similar experience when I was pregnant with Mattie - not with Gabriel because I was only pregnant with him for about 15 minutes - well, 24 for weeks...same thing. ***Stay with me here. It's going to seem like I'm derailing but I promise I'll bring it all together....you may proceed***
Anyway, on the heartburn days I try to eat and drink milder stuff. It doesn't really help but I keep doing it. As I've mentioned somewhere, there are days that milk and mashed potatoes feel like battery acid. Now, with this round of chemo, I was lead to believe that the nausea would be milder if not nonexistent. My oncologist said that he doubted I would even need any medication. I have been too chicken to stop because the one time I did stop the meds just a little early and got sick, it was not pleasant. Plus, it seemed like the mild nausea I was experiencing was hitting well after treatment. I could not understand why I was feeling nauseated at the end of the cycle...that is, until today. Let's walk through the treatment week, shall we?
- Wednesday (AKA Treatment Day) - Side effect: Benadryl haze (sleep)
- Thursday - Side effect: Steroid insomnia
- Friday - Side effect: fatigue (sleep!!!)
- Saturday - Side effect: fatigue (sleep!!!)
- Sunday - Side effect: mild fatigue, mild heartburn, mild nausea
- Monday - Side effect: heartburn, mild nausea with meds, moderate nausea without meds
- Tuesday - Side effect: heartburn, mild nausea with meds, moderate nausea without meds
I just could not figure out why the nausea came on so late but I didn't spend too much time trying to figure it out because so much about this experience just defies logic. For some reason, though, today it hit me. On days that I'm dealing with heartburn, I try to drink only water and milk. I didn't drink any milk until later in the day and within just a few minutes my stomach was protesting. EUREKA!! It's not the chemo that's making me nauseous on those days, it's DAIRY PRODUCTS!!!! DUH DUH DUH DUH DUH DUH DUH DUH. I know that the general rule is that dairy makes nausea worse but since I wasn't already nauseated, it didn't occur to me. Now, the chemo may make the dairy experience worse but it wasn't directly causing the nausea. The lesson here, folks, is to pay close attention to the side effects during your treatment cycle. Just tracking it isn't enough, you have to pay attention to the details so you don't cause yourself unnecessary discomfort. Lesson learned a little late in the game, but learned.
Now, sticking with the "I'm a dork" theme, not only am I slow to pick up on patterns, I'm also having trouble remembering where I am in the treatment schedule. The transition to weekly treatment has actually made it seem like things are moving along more quickly than they are. At one point this weekend I told someone I had 5 treatments left...wait, that's not right...I have 7. How in the world do you get messed up on something like that?? Luckily, I keep my trusty Post It on my bathroom mirror and mark off each treatment. After tomorrow's treatment I'll be halfway through round 2. When I mentioned this to my oncologist last week he quickly corrected me and said that if I looked at round 1 and 2 combined, I was more than halfway through treatment. Yes, this is true but I prefer to handle them individually. Why, you ask? Because if I were to do that with chemo and radiation, I wouldn't be anywhere near halfway. It's all about the positives!
Back later!
Love to all,
Andee