Tag Archives: bone pain

Let it Snow, Let it Snow…..Let it ICE

Here we are, Taxol treatment 7 of 12. Total chemo treatment 11 of 16. Well past that halfway point!

This past week has been much of the same. Extreme fatigue, constipation, sleeplessness, and body aches. The severity of each symptom changes cycle to cycle. I met with the awesome Nurse Practitioner today, Christine, and added a lot of good information to my brain.

My lab work showed that my blood counts are down, but not horrible….in the 5 range. Just a smidge under normal. I am a slight bit anemic, but other than that the labs all looked “normal”. They looked fine for someone on chemo.

So onto what I learned….Magnesium….It does a LOT. We talked about each issue I was having; sleeplessness, constipation, muscle aches, elevated blood sugars due to the steroids; magnesium can help all of those issues! I had no idea. As a possible fix, she is giving me extra fluids as well as 1 mg magnesium at infusion. It does add an hour to my time here, but if it helps, I’m game. In addition, I will be taking, nightly, over-the-counter magnesium as well as a larger dose of melatonin. The magnesium should help my muscles relax and the melatonin to help me fall asleep and stay that way through the night. She said that it will also help lower my blood sugar levels. Doing all of these things things and increasing my daily fluids should help me feel much better from here on out.

Update on the neuropathy. I do have some numbness in the tips of my fingers and toes. No real pain, but we want to make sure it doesn’t get worse. I will be continuing to ice my hands and feet while the chemo is being infused.

Finally, I want to again thank everyone for their love and support. Daily, my heart gets a dose of encouragement through those reaching out to me to check on me. In addition, food comes at just the right times and those surprise gifts in the mail mean so much. I would not be where am I doing as well as I am without all of your support and prayers.

As to the title of this post….It is COLD in North Texas. We had some freezing fog this morning that led to slick roads in the area and a major accident, (100 cars and at least five fatalities at this point). The next few days could get worse. But, sadly, in North Texas we rarely see snow. If we have a winter weather event it’s ice! Ice is scary and not something to mess around with. To all those actors the country dealing with this article blast, stay safe, stay warm, and stay home. ANd for me, I’m going to add stay inside. I am not a graceful person and I don’t want my family getting video of me sliding across the ice…even if it could win us 10K on America’s Funniest Videos!

I have added a few pictures below…..I am wearing gifts from head to toe! The hat from a sweet friend from high-school, Candace. The earrings from an awesome coworker, Emily (Smart Parts Crafts in Bedford!), The shirt from the Carlisles; in OKC and our extended family in Orlando, the bracelet for a fellow fighter who does chemo here at my clinic, and my comfy stretchy shoes from another coworker, Cammie. I love you all so much and wearing these items from you helps me remember all those fighting along with me!

Please ignore typos…..I am a bit groggy from the Benadryl going in. I will prof again when I get home!

Taxol 5/12

It is hard to believe I am heading to treatment five of 12 this morning. This past week was, yet again, different from the first three. I am not sure what a normal reaction to treatment is!

I experienced bone pain and slept way more than the previous weeks. I had two days of awake unable to sleep and then all I did was sleep. Sleeping was good and bad. While asleep I didn’t feel the pain, but I slept through a lot of family time. Thankfully, my family and friends are wonderful and understand! I have missed going to church and being fed in-person with God’s word and the love of my church family. It believe Christmas Eve was the last time I attended. I pray I feel well enough this weekend to go!

I started feeling much better by Tuesday and had a solid day and a half of good. Knowing I have to go through it all again his morning is hard. I don’t get as much recovery time as when I was going every two weeks, but treatments will be over sooner rather than dragging on!

Curious to see what week five brings. I will update more later this week!

Taxol 2/12

I am so bad at updating this blog in a timely manner. I don’t have a reason. I think to myself many times, I should write a post and then never do!

Last Thursday I received Taxol treatment 2 o 12. Thankfully, I can tell you that this week went much better! To start, I did not sleep through the treatment as I had done the previous time. I was calm and relaxed but was awake the entire time. It goes relatively fast and before I knew it they were coming over to unhook me. I did go home and sleep off the Benadryl. I sleep a solid three hours and got up feeling well.

Nighttime came and I was running off steroids. I did not sleep a wink Thursday night. Friday I was very emotional mainly due to the extreme exhaustion. I didn’t want to sleep all day and get my days and nights mixed up again. I tried staying busy and napped when Eli did. Thankfully, I was able to sleep great Friday night and have slept fine the rest of the week.

The bone pain typically sets a few days post-chemo. Mine seems to be the worst from day two through four. Since I received treatment on Thursday, Friday evening through Sunday or Monday is when I struggle the most with pain. I had tried to stay ahead of the pain this time by taking my Claritin daily as well as ibuprofen starting at the time of the infusion. I still had pain, but nothing like the week previous. For that I am grateful.

The only other real symptoms I have are the fatigue that I was warned of. It takes very little to wear me out. I have been able to cook dinner a few times and got caught up on the laundry this week, but those tasks are slow processes and I have to rest often. I am still struggling with being out of breath at the slightest bit of activity. Since I know this is coming, I am prepared and don’t overdo it.

All-in-all, week two went well. Chris might tell a different story, but I feel we are all handling this round of treatment well. The entire family has been battling a cold which doesn’t help, but we are thankful it’s just a cold and tested negative for COVID and strep (Isaac was the lucky one to get sick first and endure the testing).

Tomorrow morning, around 9:00, I will receive treatment number three. Two down, 10 to go!