Round 3...

Obviously each round of chemo is going to be drastically different for me.  Round one....horribly sick and tired, related it mainly to an allergic reaction to one of my anti-nausea medications, better with a liter of fluid.  Round two....not bad just tired.  Round 3....complete with an ER for a severe headache, lightheadedness and nausea along with tingling of my fingers and toes :( 

I had my chemo a week ago, went fine as usual.  Felt great on Tuesday and even Wednesday, tired but not bad.  Thursday morning I woke with a horrible headache, struggled all day with it.  Alternated tylenol and ibuprofen and even did a little soft tissue massage and heat therapy with our pt here at work.  Helped a little and I managed to make it through my work day.  Worsened throughout the evening and after 2 hours of feeling pukey and crying I broke down and called the on call oncology nurses.  I'd hoped they'd order a liter of fluids that I could do and feel better.  Unfortunately she thought it was necessary that I be seen so off to ER we went.  Thankfully the dr. and nurses were very understanding and were quick with running their tests and doing exams.  CT, c xray, labwork all returned fine, my white count is even up to 2.1!!  Still at risk for infections but not as bad!  A little of morphine for my headache and a liter of fluid and I felt much better.  I was actually able to rest.  Unfortunately when they took my vitals to send me home my blood pressure was only 74/48...YIKES!!  So the dr ordered another liter of fluid and said if it didn't come up to at least 90 they'd have to admit me.  I was thrilled when my blood pressure was 91/63...barely made it but I was headed home!!  Only to get to the parking lot and find our car had a flat tire.....at this point I was just ready to be home.  5 am we finally got home and crashed!! 

A new side effect has hit me...my fingers and toes are tingly.  You know that annoying tingly prickly sensation ya get when your feet are asleep???  It's super annoying and unfortunately I'm told that could last months after my last chemo session!!

I finally broke down and shaved my head on Friday afternoon.  After showering and having 2 clumps fall out I was ready.  I'd struggled with when to shave it and cried every morning while doing my hair and this was the last straw.  JR shaved while I sobbed....dried it up then moved on.  It's so much easier.....it takes me about 15 minutes to get ready now, showered and out the door.  Quite the change from having to dry and straighten my hair which usually took a good 30 minutes alone!  So I'm sporting my cute little hats and do rags!

My last round of chemo is scheduled for August 1st with my PET scan scheduled for the following week. I'm almost done.....hopefully :)  Thanks for the continued thoughts, prayers and kind words.  I have no doubt those are what are getting me through.  And a special thanks to my family for being so wonderful....especially my husband who has been my rock.