Definitely starting to feel the build-up of side effects, and at least one new one.
I’ve been spending a lot of time sleeping this weekend and this afternoon – as well as sleeping through the night the last three nights (hey, that’s nearly unheard of for me recently – mostly I’ve had insomnia). The bone and muscle/joint pain is getting worse, although so far the pain pills are still taking care of it.
But this time, instead of peripheral neuropathy, my nailbeds hurt on both hands. With the Adriamyacin (my previous chemo) my nails turned black, but there was no sensation involved with it. For the Taxol, one of the side-effects can be blackening of the nails, but there’s no indication of pain. So I don’t know if it’s just a modified version of the nail-blackening (which hasn’t happened yet – still pink), or a modified version of the peripheral neuropathy.
My blood pressure was up on Friday, and I asked if 148/83 was high enough to be worried, but apparently it wasn’t. If I’d looked up the symptoms of high blood pressure prior to our meeting with the doctor, I’d have asked a different question. The Friday before, I was puking-sick with a bad headache – one of the basic symptoms of high blood pressure (well, OK, it says nausea, but first comes nausea, then comes puking). Could that be related?
At any rate, I’m still feeling very fatigued in spite of taking a couple-hour nap this afternoon.
One of the things that I did regularly with the first bout of cancer was to listen to guided imagery CDs relating to surgery, chemotherapy, insomnia, general wellness, fighting cancer, and later, weight loss. I started out listening to them this time, but haven’t kept up on it. I’ve decided that I need to start listening to the CDs again to see if this improves my mood – it is definitely one thing that I’m doing differently this time around, and I’m tired of feeling low.
And just to relieve any concern caused by yesterday’s post, the two people who were so rude were neither family or friend – one was a complete stranger, riding the train; and another was an acquaintance that I’d already determined was not someone I want to spend time with.
Everyone else has been extremely supportive and caring, and I appreciate it greatly; even, for the most part, complete strangers have been very supportive.
It’s only 7 p.m., but already I’m thinking about how soon I can go to bed ;-}
Pity the Cancer! 