We got some great news during my checkup before Chemo Round 3. The blood test came back and my CA 125 markers have dropped to 165! William asked the doctor if this was normal to see such big changes in only two rounds of chemo and her response was “This is not normal, this is amazing”
Chemo Round 3
My daughter Julia sat with me for this round. Initially, both William and Julia were supposed to be with me for the day, but no one had told me that you could only have one guest during your chemo visits. after we arrived and got settled, one of the nurses stopped by and rather abruptly told them that one of them would have to leave. I was in a good mood after hearing the results of my blood test, and I had to decide not to let this nurse steal my joy with her bad attitude. Maybe she was just having a bad day 🙂
William left to get Julia and I coffee and then he hung out in the truck working during this round. The nurse who makes the snoopy pictures for me brought me another one this time and brought a smile to my face. Overall, the day of chemo was fairly uneventful, and a little bit quicker than the previous two rounds as they speed up my drug delivery after seeing that my body doesn’t have severe adverse reactions to the first two rounds.
The timing of the recovery was very different with this round. I felt better the first few days after the treatment and only had 2 to 3 bad days of pain, but it’s taking much longer to bounce back and get my energy to a normal level.
The brain fog is back. It took years to get my mind to function correctly after facing chemo with breast cancer. And while I feel like it’s mostly back, I don’t think it ever came back 100%. After this round of chemo, the brain fog returned. At times it’s difficult to process thoughts clearly and I pause to ask if the things I’ve said have come out correctly.
The peripheral neuropathy seems to be worse in the first two weeks after treatment. I’m experiencing this in a way that I never did during the breast cancer chemo. It’s mainly affecting my right side. I’ve been crocheting and paper quilling to use my fine motor skills and that seems to help.
I’ve been having more dizzy spells, which makes walking fun (insert sarcasm here), and my spine feels like it’s been compressed. I’ve checked, and I’m not any shorter, but it just feels like that 🙂
At night I feel restless, and it’s difficult to sleep. And my face rash has returned. I basically have bad teenage acne that gets worse every night and then slightly clears up during the day.
I share this just to give you guys an idea of what’s going on. I’ve had a few of you ask about the details of what it looks like in the days after chemo. even while dealing with all of these side-effects, I find reasons to smile and laugh every day.
Thank you all for your love and support.
-Tamika
