Chemo Day 4: Beat it!

Chemo Day 4 is in the bag. Can I get a HELL YEAH!? I slipped up on my photo-journalism and forgot to get a pic of me and Dad while he was with me for the breakfast shift. But I did get a photo of me and Rob as I was finishing up for the day.

I just noticed that my dress looks a lot like a hospital gown in this photo. And it's much cuter than that in person. You'll have to take my word for it.

Today's theme song is also brought to you by Rob's submission. 

What's that you say? We have a sick sense o' humor in this household. Yea... not the first time we've heard that.

Count down to Chemo #4

Today was pre-chemo check-up day... woohoo! Here's the run down on my top 3 gripes ... err uh side effects from this last treatment cycle. 

1. Edema. I already took you on an adventure into Fat Footville, so I won't rehash all the glorious details here. But I will tell  you what the oncologist had to say about it: It's a normal side effect of Taxotere. Expect it to get worse with these upcoming treatments. And it will go away. Thaaaaaanks.
2. Shortness of breath and muscle fatigue. As in, one flight of stairs is do-able. Two flights of stairs - and throw in a basket of laundry for good measure - and my lungs and quads feel like I'm half-way through a Metabolic Effect class. The doc's take on this: I have my good friend anemia to thank. 
3. Weight gain. Now I'm more inclined to blame this on attribute this to side effect number 2, which has lead to an increased lack of physical activity. Well, that, and the overall general fatigue, and the swamp monkey butt heat and humidity that is a Virginia summer. But what's the doc say? You're not gaining weight, you're retaining water. So stay away from the scale. Also, that dress looks fabulous on you. (Maybe I made that last one up, but it was a pretty fabulous dress.) My response to her: Try telling that to all of the clothes and shoes that don't fit at the moment.

All in all, it was a good check up. I'm still doing well with treatment and my hemoglobin is still low, but not transfusion low so it was a good day. The doc also cleared me to go back to grad school for the Fall semester... which Rob and I are still deciding on. If I do, it will just be one class (Issues in International Social Development - jealous much?) instead of two.

And now I'm all set for Chemo Day 4 tomorrow. Dad has got the breakfast shift, so he'll be picking me up bright 'n' early. Then Rob will come up for the lunch shift. There's just one thing I'm missing... my theme song!

What should it be? I haven't heard anything really inspiring this week, so leave me a comment with what you think Theme Song #4 should be.

To help you along, here's a recap from previous treatments:

Chemo Day 1: Pat Benatar - Hit Me with Your Best Shot
Chemo Day 2: David Guetta - Titanium
Chemo Day 3: Bon Jovi - Livin' on a Prayer

You be the judge

Here's a brief update on the hair situation. For those of you playing along at home, you may remember that this is what Day 8 of Chemo 2 looked like...

I make this look good

 And here's Day 21 of Chemo 3...

I know it doesn't look that different, but look closely. See it? Peach fuzz? Or the down feather-ey stuff that covers little baby chickens.

So which is it... produce or poultry? You be the judge.

Confession time

Okay, I have a confession to make to you all. Yesterday, I broke down and got one of these...

This is the temporary Temporary Placard. The permanent Temporary Placard (good for 6 months) should arrive in the mail next week.

Now, before anyone freaks out, I have NOT taken a turn for the worse. I repeat, I have NOT taken a turn for the worse. I do, however, have what we in my office refer to as heart healthy parking.

See the structure vaguely off in the distance? Just there on the horizon? That's my office.

And this is the view of the parking lot as I leave my office every afternoon.

It's not terribly obvious in either of these photos, but our parking lot is not only large, it's also on an incline. Let's do a little math, shall we? Steep hill + anemia + 100 degree weather + good ol' Virginia swamp monkey butt humidty = potential for a face plant on the sidewalk.

Another disclaimer: I have NOT face planted on the sidewalk. Or anywhere else, for that matter. But my motivation for requesting special people parking came from three places.

First, it was in the name of research and making myself smart on available resources. Love me some resources - can't help it, it's the social worker in me. For anyone who's curious, obtaining a Temporary Disabled placard in Virginia is very simple.

Step 1 - complete VA DMV form MED 10.
Step 2 - ask your medical provider to sign page 2 under the LICENSED PHYSICIAN / PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT / NURSE PRACTITIONER MEDICAL CERTIFICATION section.
Step 3 - Bring the form, along with a valid ID, and $5 to your nearest VA DMV branch (I believe you can also mail it in.)

Second, Rob told me a very compelling story of someone from his early days in our beloved Corps who locked his knees in formation (rookie mistake) and face planted the parade deck. Then something about biting through his own cheek... busting out a whole bunch of teeth... and general visage disfigurment. So I thought meh, why risk it? 

And third, special people parking really could come in handy this holiday season.

Florida recap

We've been home from Florida for almost a week, and I'm just now getting around to posting about it. So without further adieu...here's Pompano!


Our Spirit Air flight was delayed 3 hours. But by the time we boarded, we were still in good spirits! Get it? Ahh...stick around, the jokes get much worse.

Finally in Pompano, it was time for some pool-side action next to the tiki bar. And wouldn't ya know...we were just in time for karaoke.

Alas, there was no karaoke action for this girl. But an early night in was followed by an eggceptional brunch with Mom, Monica and Clint.  

Brunch brought with it a torrential down pour...kinda a bummer when you're at an ocean-front resort. So we headed into Lauderdale for the Museum of Discovery and Science where I tried my hand at the Cyber Knife.

That's right. Even while on vacation I'm still kickin' cancer's ass.

The next day we went north, into lion country. Actually, it was West Palm Beach. But we were at Lion Country Safari. Pictured here: Jordon being very brave for coming into the lorikeet aviary with us.  

Pictured here: Me with a vicious attack lorikeet

See that giraffe over Mom's right shoulder? Once it realized we were out of lettuce, it wasn' sticking around for the photo-op.

And our last day was spent at Butterfly World. Time really few by.

  Can't get enough of my Florida adventure? Check out the full album HERE.

I went to Florida and all I got were these lousy cankles

I got home late Tuesday night (okay it was actually very early Wednesday morning) from a quick trip to Pompano Beach, Fl. Aunt Cecilia has had a place down there for about 10 years, so I was about a decade overdue for a visit to this sleepy little ocean front town that finds itself half way between West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale. There were 15 of us from the Suraci clan down there spread out between 3 condos. Mom and I shared an ocean front room on the 7th floor (the penthouse... kinda) and the view was awesome (so was the room).

But more on that in another post. This post is about my souvenir from the trip. Enter... Exhibit A.

These little piggies are not going to market.

It might be a little difficult to tell from this photo, but typically you can actually tell where my lower leg stops and foot begins. What you're looking at here is a common side effect of Taxotere called edema. Unfortunately, I didn't notice it until we were on our way through security to board a flight back to VA. A quick check of the internet proved to be less than helpful. Search results produced everything from This is very common, just be sure to keep your feet elevated and also be sure to get up and walk around once an hour to OMG you have a blood clot and you'll probably die of an aneurysm if you get on a plane. A call to the on-call doctor (why does this stuff always happen after business hours) - I'm going to refer to him as Dr. Jerkface - wasn't much help either. 

Fortunately, the flight home was an uneventful one and I made a call to my real doctor first thing the next morning. She had me come in for an appointment - just as a precaution - then sent me over to the hospital for a sonogram (another precaution). While edema is quite common and usually goes away on its own, its symptoms are also similar to that of a blood clot. Increased risk of blood clots includes things like flying, having cancer, and receiving chemotherapy. And treatment consists of blood thinners. 

Good news... no blood clots! 

Edema is sometimes treated with waterpills. But apparently those come with their own side effects and potential complications. So for now... fat feet it is!

 

 

Dog days o' summer

I'm pretty sure when I ran home at lunch today to pick up the dogs for the groomer's (and by ran, I mean walked from my air conditioned office to my air conditioned car as quickly as my tired, anemic ass would carry me), they were both trying to give me the middle finger for 1) interrupting their eight hour nap, and 2) making them go outside in the midst of a DC heatwave. Well joke's on you guys... you don't even have middle fingers! And your thumbs are on your elbows... which is just weird. So off to the groomer's they went!

Kelley at Gone to the Dogs does a great job. Can't get enough Moxie cuteness? Get your Moxie fix HERE.

Charlie, the eternal hipster, is too cool and ironic for Facebook.

Apart from today's adventure in canine hygiene, this week has been a exercise in doing as little as possible. And I do believe I've succeeded. I'm gonna blame that on the heat. And the chemo. See also: tired. See also: anemic.

I'm starting to get an idea of what the docs are talking about when they say the effects of chemo are cumulative. The fatigue hit me a lot faster - and stayed a little longer - on Three than it did with One or Two. With the first two treatments, days 4 and 5 were probably my laziest. This time it was days 2 through 5. Day 6 was a full day back to work again (I learned my lesson from One and have not been going back to work on Day 5) and today, Day 7, I finally feel normal.

I've also noticed that each treatment cycle has come with unique side effects (the acne and the nosebleeds were really annoying) in addition to the old faithfuls (dry mouth / metallic taste, heartburn, muscle ache / fatigue, hot flashes, runny nose, and tingling hands). Fortunately all of these have been pretty tolerable/manageable. And! The GI ugginess has been pretty minimal. Though, if number Three were to have a theme, GI ugginess* may be it. As Monday's delicious Chipotle lunch made a not-so-delicious reappearance later that evening and other meals for the last few days seem to be taking their leave rather expeditiously. That's lady-like, right?

In other news: it's time to feed those well-groomed dogs. Have a great evening!



*word credit to Alyssa