It has been four days since my second chemo treatment. So far no hurricanes but the other side effects have come back. In the mornings I generally have more energy than later in the day. I am more tired during the day and fatigue has set in. As I mentioned one of the best things I have found for fatigue is to get up and walk around a bit or do something basic. This evening I went out to the store to pick up a prescription refill. Sue would have gone but it was good to get out of the house for a few minutes and I choose a time when it wouldn't be busy. I have found that it is definitely good to get up and at least a bit active during the day. Sometimes that may just be walking around on a single floor.
I am adjusting to having the feeding tube. It is hard to pin point what causes what side effects but I am learning some basics about the tube. The first thing is that right after doing a feeding I should recline just a bit for about 15 minutes to give my stomach time to settle. Getting right up and starting to clean up is not the best idea I have found. This technique seems to have reduced the indigestion and the amount of "formula" flavored burbs. :-)
One thing I am doing during the feedings to keep my mind preoccupied is watching some mindless TV. Lately I have been watching the Food Network or as I like to call it the "Food Porn" channel. It may seem a bit strange to watch cooking shows when I can't eat food right now but I find it actually helps me. I am getting lots of great ideas for things to put on my food list.
One of the side effects that has come back from the last chemo is I am having a lot of mucus discharge from the sinus area. At first I thought this was from being backed up and it was released after the first chemo and start of the radiation treatments. Since then I have asked some questions and mucus is one of the bodies ways of dealing with dead cells. I like to think that the second wave of ground troops (The chemo treatments) have made their first strike and the mucus is a sign of the cancer cells being killed. This is something I will have to ask the radiation oncologist about tomorrow.
Monday will be a milestone for the radiation treatments. That will be treatment number 18 with 17 left. Just a bit beyond the half way point. Yippee! I know that the last half will be a bit of a rough ride and that there is more chemo afterwards but getting to the halfway point is a nice milestone. As I mentioned in a previous post there are also some visible effects to the radiation. The hair on the back of my head at the base did fall out. This is one of the 7 target areas. Also some on one side above my ear. Nothing major but there was some radiation fallout. :-)
The other radiation side effect is I am starting to notice some skin burn. This will be worse and there are some treatments for it. The radiation oncologist mentioned that when the tumors shrink the skin irritation could get worse. I view that as a small price to pay if the treatments are working. Hopefully when they adjust the treatment plan some of that will be minimized.
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