Dave's Chemo Journal: April 4, 2012

Here's the next entry in Dave's journal.

April 4, 2012

So I finished up with the first chemo treatment Monday at 5:30 pm. I was at the doctor’s office for a full nine hours. I left feeling a bit tired and nauseated. The doctor prescribed nausea medicine which we filled before going home. I took one as soon as we hit the door. I was in bed by 7:30.

The next morning I woke up around 6:00 and thought I might be able to go to the golf course for a morning round before going back to the doctor at 1:45 to get my shot. I went to the bathroom and took a shower, then immediately went to my recliner and stayed there for the next two hours looking at the television and internet, completely exhausted from my morning activity. I watched a movie and had lunch at around 12:00, followed by another nausea pill and some pain reliever. [Amanda's note: Remember that he was still recovering from two surgeries. He never needed pain reliever for chemo side effects.]

When we got to the doctor, the nurse called me back to the room promptly and proceeded with my shot. My experience the day before taught me to ask questions about any item being shot into my body. I asked the nurse what this shot would do and she responded that it would cause my bone marrow to create more white blood cells. “And what will it do to me?” “Well, since the medicine affects your bones, you will probably have some bone pain and flu like symptoms.” Great. That will go nicely with my nausea and fatigue. Bone pain. How lovely.

After the shot we visited a friend in the hospital who had given birth the day before. Then we went to my office for about an hour before heading to my daughter’s soccer practice at 5:30. I faded fast at soccer and spent a good bit of the practice sitting in the car. We made it home at about 7:00 and had dinner – leftovers from lunch that Amanda had already pre-plated for all of us. I was in bed again by 7:30 and pretty much oblivious to anything going on around me.

Today I woke up at about 5:30 and was again full of energy. Today was circled on my calendar as a day that I must get to work. I had something very important that required my attendance and at least part of my attention. I took a shower, brushed my teeth and shaved and by 6:15, I was ready to go back to bed. But I pushed through and left for work with the wife in tow at 7:00.

I made it through my schedule of items at 9:00 and 10:00 this morning, but started feeling a bit dizzy and lightheaded at around 10:45. I went back to the office and stripped off my coat and tie and shuffled papers for about an hour until lunch.

My “must be here for this today” assignment was scheduled at 2:00 and I made it through, finished at 2:45. As soon as that was over, I headed back to the office and was on the road for home by 3:00. Seven hours of work on the second day after a nine hour chemo session – not too bad. We will see what tomorrow brings. It is not quite 5:00 yet and I could probably sleep until the morning.

The hardest part of this is not being able to seize the day. I am looking out the front window of my house into bright sunshine with a gentle breeze. The temperature is around 80 and the skies are bright blue with big white clouds. A picture of perfection that would support all manner of projects and activities, and my body is too weak to do anything but go outside and sit. Something that will only make me more frustrated by my inability to truly enjoy the weather.