You see, Monday is Infusion Day. I spend a quiet morning at the cancer center, ensconced in a recliner reading or knitting or chatting, while the drugs drip into me through my port. The process is completely painless. The only discomfort is how cold the room is, and they supply heated blankets to take care of that. My chemo drug, taxol, is an irritant, so the first thing they give me is a big slug of Benadryl, Pepcid, and a steroid, all to cushion the impact of the taxol. That means that after my infusion I generally go home, eat lunch, and hit the sack to sleep off the Benadryl.
Then Tuesday and Wednesday are Steroid High Days: complete relief from all my random pre-cancer arthritic aches and pains, plus good energy--such good energy that I generally don't sleep through the night, waking up for good somewhere around 3:15 to 4:30 am. But hey, who cares, I'm on a steroid high!
But by Thursday the steroid has worn off, and the piper must be paid for those missing nights of sleep. Hence, Steroid Crash Day. Don't expect much of me on Thursdays.
After that, the weekend days tend to be an alternation of pretty normal punctuated by random episodes of complete fatigue. Nevertheless, I have been able to keep to my commitment of 35 minutes of vigorous cardio five days a week (Tuesday through Saturday).
All in all, the side effects I have experienced so far have been considerably milder than I feared, and certainly manageable, for which I am deeply grateful. Food still tastes good, and I'm eating completely normally. Well, higher protein than usual, because that's what they tell you to do during chemo. I am not in pain. I have not had even the slightest touch of nausea. Much to be thankful for!
AND, I'm now one-third the way through the chemo! Yay!
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