Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Chemo Round Six (halfway there...)

Yesterday, was round six which marks the halfway point for my *projected* treatment (i.e. best-case scenario). Hooray! Before the usual nausea kicked in, I was able to celebrate by attacking and destroying a full five courses at The Olive Garden, so my appetite is, ahem, normal. (All-you-can-eat sushi, your time will come, just you wait.) The stomach is feeling a bit more uneasy today, but relatively consistent with my previous experience. And my experience (i.e. functionality) continues to surprise my docs and nurses. Every time I visit they read over this loooong list of symptoms/side effects that I may have had over the last two weeks, and I'm supposed to answer "yes" or "no." Rarely have I answered anything but "no," and those times were usually "kinda/sorta/mildly." In general, I do feel pretty good and am glad for it. I will say that hair has started to fall out of peculiar places, and I'll just leave it at that....

Ironically, one thing that has slowed me down is the big toenail I had removed (by a doctor, to prevent infection) last week due to a soccer injury (I'm hardcore, but you knew that). It's a fairly regular occurrence for me, actually, and I often remove them myself. This time, though, my usual Wolverine-like healing powers seem to have been impacted by the chemo. Btw, daily application of hydrogen peroxide hurts like &%*#@&_* and Day 7 has proven to be no better. I would like to have been back on the field by last weekend, but I'll probably take it easy for another week. Grrrrr.

On a different note, I've noticed that quite a few TV shows recently have had characters develop cancer. Breaking Bad (although that's the premise of the show), Nip/Tuck, Grey's Anatomy (this is due to roommate control of remote!), and now Rescue Me. Is this a new trend (i.e. I know cancer is involved in many TV plotlines over the years, but is it increasing?) or is it a regular thing that I've only taken note of (and perhaps taken interest in) due to my condition? I'm thinking the latter. Yes/no? Regardless, cancer awareness, especially when talking about early detection and diagnosis of treatable/preventable cancers, is ok by me. Using cancer as a way to slowly kill of a character played by a disgruntled actor (ahem, Grey's) seems a bit lame, though.

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