Cycle 2 , Day 9 - A little late, I forgot to post til Day 10

I got home a while ago from getting my Bleomycin. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, this one made me nervous after the reactions I've had to it in the past on the Bleo only days. The difference this time is the hydrochortizone injection I received to precede it. It's a steroid which should prevent me from having any serious reactions to the drug. So far so good. I also got another litre of fluid today which wasn't scheduled but which I asked for. My doctor and nurses have been very good this cycle at trying different drugs and adding more fluid to help me get through my "spaced out week". That's the only way I can describe how I feel on the days following my treatments (Days 6-10ish). Again, my ears ring, I feel light headed and weak, nauseous and I can't think straight. The whole "not being able to think" is often referred to as "chemo brain" which I have full on. For example, it could take me 10 minutes to find a Popsicle in the freezer which is sitting right there on the shelf in front of my eyes. Or another example would be like last night when someone called to do a phone survey. I agreed to do it but couldn't understand what they were trying to ask me so I just hung up confused. If you're fundraising and would like to get a big donation from me that I won't remember later, now's the time to call. Forget it actually, I have no idea where my wallet is.

The other change this cycle was the neupogen injections which have been going ok. I felt like I had the flu overnight last night but no major bone pain or anything yet. Adrienne has given me 2 so far.

Speaking of Adrienne, as a teacher she's back to work now and is crazy busy. Her day yesterday consisted of waking up early after sleeping half the night in our son's room (Anthony woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep without her, teething we think?), then going to school and meeting all the new students and parents. When she got home around 7:30 PM she was just in time to put Anthony to bed. After bedtime she had to give me my injection. And then at around 9 PM ish she got to have her lunch and supper which she never had a chance to eat yesterday. And then she had to go and get ready to do it all over again today. I don't know how she does it?

We had also planned to put Anthony in Daycare 2 days a week starting this week but with my immune system issues/concerns we've decided to wait until after chemo is finished. So that means Adrienne's parents have been watching Anthony full time this week and will continue to do so until I'm feeling better. It also means that they have to take me to my treatments and take care of me when I'm out of commission. It's a lot to ask and they've been great.
Another milestone to mention is that the blog has been viewed over 2000 times now. I know that 1900 of those have probably been my sister, but either way it's nice to know that over 2000 times someone has wondered how we're doing. It's also nice to consider how many phone conversations I've managed to avoid with chemo brain by blogging instead.

Below are a couple of pics that Adrienne's Dad took. The first one is Anthony and I having a snuggle before I headed out for chemo this morning and the second is me at Cancer Care settling in for my poison.