Life in the Wig Room

Translation: "the wig room" is the place where chemo patients gather for weekly chemo infusions.

I have now been "in treatment" for almost 10 weeks. The first few weeks were a bit of an adjustment. There was some nausea and stomach upset, and a dizzy, loopy feeling -- almost felt like a constant hangover. After the first round of treatment (3 weeks), I experienced some relief from adverse symptoms with help from my mistletoe doc who changed my supplementation to alleviate side effects. This helped immensely!

The biggest problem I had was with a huge dose of Benadryl given in a pre-chemo cocktail with every infusion. I found that I simply could not tolerate the intense groggy stupor from the Benadryl; then, as it wore off, I experienced a hyper-jittery state that prevented me from having a peaceful night's sleep. So every Wednesday afternoon, I was in a fog-like state and every Wednesday night, I lay awake all night long; hence, Thursday was spent in a state of total sleep deprivation. The Benadryl is given only as a prophylactic drug in case of allergic reaction to the chemo. I finally convinced my doc to reduce the Benadryl dosage.... and then, when even that didn't seem to help much.... to eliminate it completely. It has made a huge difference in my ability to function every Wednesday and Thursday of treatment weeks. I never displayed an allergic reaction to the chemo, thank goodness. So "bye bye Benadryl!"

A follow-up scan was administered on July 13. It showed no advancement of the cancer and possible reduction of a lymph node tumor. Because I am on an additional study drug, scans will be pretty frequent. I found out that the study I am on requires most patients to be in treatment for at least six 3-week cycles -- that's essentially 6 months' time. Some patients are in treatment for a year or more.

I still experience some days of fatigue. But for the most part, I am tolerating the treatment pretty well.
Hair is not totally gone; but after having a buzz cut and now looking like a white-haired chicken, hats and wigs are standard apparel.

I am grateful that I am still able to play a lot of church gigs and teach piano. Making music is key to my survival. Singing is still problematic but progress is being made; will save that story for another posting.

Thanks, as always, to friends who send emails and cards to let me know you are "out there" and thinking of me. It really does matter -- so very much.