My Cancer Journey: Two Weeks Post Chemo

Patience

Two Weeks post chemo.

I don’t know what I expected to happen, but the chemo seems to be taking its sweet time getting out of my system.  Ok not really, the doctor said it would be 1-3 months to recover from the chemo, so I am doing well considering.

There are a couple side effects of the chemo still affecting me.

For instance, my hair continues to fall out as the chemo continues to do its work…it should start growing back in a couple weeks.

My blood cell counts are still low, but should be fully recovered in 2 more weeks — which means that in two weeks I can eat that medium-rare steak that I have been craving!

I am still affected by neuropathy. The neuropathy in my left hand has not gotten any better. It has not gotten worse either, so that is a positive.  The neuropathy in my right hand seems to be getting better which is great.

There is another side effect I just noticed a couple of days ago – the large vein running over the top of my right wrist is hard and sore. I called the Cancer Agency Nurse Line and they said it is clotting and swelling in the vein which is minor and quite common and is caused by the IV and the chemo.  It should heal itself, it just adds to the irritation of the neuropathy.

Good news

I am gaining weight. I am back at my pre-diagnosis weight, I just need to get my energy back so I can gain my strength back. My appetite is very good, in fact, I am even eating when I am bored now. This is not good, but  is still a good sign that I am recovering. The bad part is that my energy levels are not keeping pace with my appetite.  After eating I often feel tired, so I have to eat small amounts. Also, the chemo has damaged the lining of my stomach, so I avoid those foods which trigger the production of stomach acid. For me, that is anything excessively greasy or high in fat content.

Everyday is a little bit better than the day before.  My energy is slowly returning, I am able to load the dishwasher, and do laundry, and help around the house… And this morning I am attempting to do a bottle run — return all the empty bottles, cans juice boxes etc.  We have not done a bottle run since before my diagnosis, so there are a lot of them.  This is going to test my energy levels.  In fact, I just hauled them all up stairs, all 5 large garbage bags of them, and needed a break — hence the blog post.

Since I have been unable to work, and probably wont be able to for a little while longer… we are looking for creative ways to save money. So we are moving to a smaller townhouse with more affordable rent. Yes we are moving over Christmas…again. That means we have to downsize. So we are getting rid of extra things, and de-cluttering. Today at noon, a friend is coming over to pick up a couch…I hope I can help him lift it!

Anyway noon is an hour away, and those bottles are not going to return themselves. Guess I better get at it while I still have some energy.

Thanks for reading!