After that it was a quick trip back up the stairs to the infusion room. Because of the holiday rush, there were only two empty chairs. I chose one next to a very young woman, and the seat on the other side of me was quickly occupied by a septuagenarian. Let me just say that this quickly became the "cool girls" section. We giggled and carried on most of the day. We swapped stories, shared fears, insights, strengths and struggles, and I can truly say that it was an enjoyable day (well, except for the iv's).
Always one to come prepared, and after reading that you should eat bland, non-greasy foods during chemo to avoid nausea, I had packed a boring lunch of cottage cheese, peaches and soup. That went out the window when my 70-something new friend, Reta whipped out her Church's fried chicken and okra. I looked over at my new 24-year old friend, Emily and asked if she'd eat some if I sent Julio out...she responded with a hearty "hell, yeah!" So my new friends, Julio and I celebrated my first chemo, Reta's last, and Emily's 2nd of 19 with a hearty fried chicken picnic, and it was glorious!!!
I came home and took a two hour nap, but that was only because anxiety had kept me up the night before. Tuesday morning I got up and headed back to the Center for a Neulasta shot which will help keep my red and white cell and platelet counts up. I made a quick trip to Trader Joes on the way home, stocked up on lots of healthy goodies, and even felt like doing some laundry and cooking dinner. Bedtime came early, around 9:00 pm, but over all, I felt really great.
This morning I woke up feeling really good again. I was a bit worried, as I had read that day three can be the worst. I have been taking my anti-nausea meds as directed, and have been drinking water non-stop. I dressed and went to work for a couple of hours, but left as soon as I felt my energy level dropping. I came home and napped for an hour, and woke up feeling pretty achy - a result of the Neulasta shot. My legs feel like I've run a marathon, not painful, just really tired, and I feel a little flu-like. Overall, however, completely tolerable. Let's hope this is the worst it gets, because I can totally do this!
