Half way home!

Friday marked the half way point not only through the four rounds of "Red Devil" (or "Red Petunia," as my sister suggests we call it.....that's less scary), but it was also HALF WAY THROUGH ALL OF CHEMOTHERAPY!

A milestone in this journey to be sure.

Treatment went like last time, but left me feeling worse on the day of than last time.  The benadryl and steroids really kick my ass.

I still pretty much feel like crap today.

The redness and swelling of the last round was attributed to the steroids by both the on call doc I had spoken with at that time, and by my own doc.   Sure enough....it started this time before the on body injector thingie ever went off.

So it's the steroids.  The skin of my back hurts again.  This really sucks.  I am glad it's the weekend, and I hope I feel better by morning.

The on body thing hurt this time, too, and left a welt on my arm that still hurts.  Ow.

Good thing I won't have to have it next time because my treatment will be on a Thursday, and I can go back to the clinic on Friday to get a regular injection.

Not my favorite thing to do, but since the on body thing was less friendly this time, I am paranoid about what it might do if I have to have it again.

Also, since my reaction to this cocktail is pretty profound for a couple of days, I will probably schedule off work on Friday after all, so missing work for the shot won't be an issue.

I'll just be off that entire week, because it includes the three days off for the trip to Chicago, and then a treatment day...so why bother going to work on Friday?

I still have donated hours in my time bank from my wonderful co workers.  This will eat up most of them, but at least I will be paid.

The only other news is that my doc gave me a prescription for ambien.  I was getting leery about using xanax for sleep, because it had stopped working in the quantity I was using, and I was requiring more.

It was time for a change. I can go back to using xanax for the anxiety that comes and goes, and rely on something else for a while to get some sleep.

I was sleeping okay for a while at first, but the worries are ramping up again (mostly fears about chemo side effects).  Sleep is absolutely essential to me, so I will use drugs if I have to in order to get it.

This too shall pass.

Now, if only Pete the cat would be completely cooperative!  HAH!!  He's better, but still can be pretty disruptive at random times.  Like this morning...starting at 2 and not stopping.  Ugh.

At least it's the weekend.  Happy Sunday, gentle readers.