Seven was not Heaven, and Eight was not Great
Hello, everyone!
I thought I would do a quick update on how the past two chemo treatments have gone. I seem to be feeling worse as my treatments go along, which is probably because my body is tired from fighting this tumor. I am extremely fatigued and nauseous a lot of the time, and I never really get back to feeling normal anymore. Although it is very exciting that I only have four chemo treatments left, it is still extremely difficult to face the symptoms every day.
I have shared a lot about the positive things that have been happening, but I feel like I may have been sugarcoating a little bit. Don't get me wrong, I have had many great experiences the past couple of months, but I want to be an open book so that maybe I can help other people going through Hodgkins know what they can expect. My symptoms seem to change a little bit with every treatment, but I will try my best to explain the ones I have been struggling with the most.
The first and most frustrating symptom I have is definitely nausea. Although I have never thrown up (knock on wood) from treatments, I get nauseous from the most random things. The worst feeling is anticipatory nausea. I start to feel nauseous at the thought of even going to my oncology office, and my body will feel sick from the moment I wake up on the days of doctors appointments. Certain tastes also make me nauseous. The taste of the saline solution they flush my PICC line with gets to me the most, and I don't like the taste of mint gum anymore because that is what I use to mask the taste of the saline. Certain meals that I have eaten around chemo time are ruined now because I associate them with being sick. I also associate some smells with being sick. To avoid this, I have been using non-scented shampoo, soap, and deodorant and my family has avoided using anything scented as well. Zofran has been my saving grace when it comes to nausea, I call it my miracle drug! It knocks the feeling out almost instantly. The only downfall is, I can't take it for 40 hours after chemo, which is when I need it the most.
Another frustrating symptom I have is fatigue. I do not have anywhere near the energy I had before I got sick, and something as simple as going out for coffee with my friends will wear me out. Although I am so tired during the day, the steroids they give me with my chemo will keep me up all night. Melatonin will help some after a few days have passed, but I have found that Ativan helps the most with not being able to sleep. Ativan is very addictive though, so you have to be careful with how often you take it.
Another symptom I have been dealing with for most of my treatments is muscle/joint pain. I have a lot of pain in my shoulders, neck, back, arms, and jaw (random, I know). The thing that has helped me most with these symptoms are sleeping with a heating pad and using a tens machine. I also wake up with headaches every day, but take ibuprofen throughout the day to keep it from bothering me too much.
I get really bad dry mouth and a terrible taste that lasts for about a week right after chemo. Drinking is especially hard because I don't like the taste of any type of drink after chemo, but I am extremely thirsty. Water tastes the worst, but tea and soda aren't much better. I use Biotene mouthwash and gel which helps very temporarily, but I haven't found anything that really helps long term.
Chemo brain is also a very real thing! There are scholarly journal articles on it and everything. I have such a hard time remembering things now that I had no problem remembering in the past. I will forget conversations I have had with people almost instantly, and I have such a hard time writing papers and focusing on school work, which I have never had a problem with in the past. I also have forgotten how to get places or forget what I am saying mid-conversation. I have even meant to write about chemo brain and symptoms in past blog posts, but have forgotten :)
Although this wasn't a very fun blog post, I felt it was important to share! I get another PET scan tomorrow, so please send some prayers and positive thoughts for good results.
I thought I would end this post with some pictures I took from our trip to the beach this past week. We had such a great time, and it was so nice to just get away and forget about everything for a little while.
I thought I would do a quick update on how the past two chemo treatments have gone. I seem to be feeling worse as my treatments go along, which is probably because my body is tired from fighting this tumor. I am extremely fatigued and nauseous a lot of the time, and I never really get back to feeling normal anymore. Although it is very exciting that I only have four chemo treatments left, it is still extremely difficult to face the symptoms every day.
I have shared a lot about the positive things that have been happening, but I feel like I may have been sugarcoating a little bit. Don't get me wrong, I have had many great experiences the past couple of months, but I want to be an open book so that maybe I can help other people going through Hodgkins know what they can expect. My symptoms seem to change a little bit with every treatment, but I will try my best to explain the ones I have been struggling with the most.
The first and most frustrating symptom I have is definitely nausea. Although I have never thrown up (knock on wood) from treatments, I get nauseous from the most random things. The worst feeling is anticipatory nausea. I start to feel nauseous at the thought of even going to my oncology office, and my body will feel sick from the moment I wake up on the days of doctors appointments. Certain tastes also make me nauseous. The taste of the saline solution they flush my PICC line with gets to me the most, and I don't like the taste of mint gum anymore because that is what I use to mask the taste of the saline. Certain meals that I have eaten around chemo time are ruined now because I associate them with being sick. I also associate some smells with being sick. To avoid this, I have been using non-scented shampoo, soap, and deodorant and my family has avoided using anything scented as well. Zofran has been my saving grace when it comes to nausea, I call it my miracle drug! It knocks the feeling out almost instantly. The only downfall is, I can't take it for 40 hours after chemo, which is when I need it the most.
Another frustrating symptom I have is fatigue. I do not have anywhere near the energy I had before I got sick, and something as simple as going out for coffee with my friends will wear me out. Although I am so tired during the day, the steroids they give me with my chemo will keep me up all night. Melatonin will help some after a few days have passed, but I have found that Ativan helps the most with not being able to sleep. Ativan is very addictive though, so you have to be careful with how often you take it.
Another symptom I have been dealing with for most of my treatments is muscle/joint pain. I have a lot of pain in my shoulders, neck, back, arms, and jaw (random, I know). The thing that has helped me most with these symptoms are sleeping with a heating pad and using a tens machine. I also wake up with headaches every day, but take ibuprofen throughout the day to keep it from bothering me too much.
I get really bad dry mouth and a terrible taste that lasts for about a week right after chemo. Drinking is especially hard because I don't like the taste of any type of drink after chemo, but I am extremely thirsty. Water tastes the worst, but tea and soda aren't much better. I use Biotene mouthwash and gel which helps very temporarily, but I haven't found anything that really helps long term.
Chemo brain is also a very real thing! There are scholarly journal articles on it and everything. I have such a hard time remembering things now that I had no problem remembering in the past. I will forget conversations I have had with people almost instantly, and I have such a hard time writing papers and focusing on school work, which I have never had a problem with in the past. I also have forgotten how to get places or forget what I am saying mid-conversation. I have even meant to write about chemo brain and symptoms in past blog posts, but have forgotten :)
Although this wasn't a very fun blog post, I felt it was important to share! I get another PET scan tomorrow, so please send some prayers and positive thoughts for good results.
I thought I would end this post with some pictures I took from our trip to the beach this past week. We had such a great time, and it was so nice to just get away and forget about everything for a little while.
Comments
Post a Comment