So, Friday was my 7th chemo treatment – and before the appointment it struck me that I was starting to get tired of this. Good news, it turns out, Melissa Vetterkind I had a complete hoot of a day at Duke Cancer Institute. While I am definitely easily amused I can’t tell you how many times I laughed during my 5.5 hour visit to DCI. This was a good thing. And yet, as with most things in life, there were some not as good things that developed along the way too.
I guess I’ll start with the bad news first. My white platelets were low enough that I was only able to receive Taxol and not the Carboplatin I’ve been getting. Before I got too worried my wonderful nurse practitioner Dawn told me this is very typical for the dose dense treatment I’ve been getting and I don’t need to “make up” the Carbo dose.
Since my white counts were low I was advised to avoid the “general public” until we know they are back up again…so I had a long holiday weekend mostly with dogs and horses. Really all Dawn had to do to motivate this cloistered behavior was tell me that I’m extra susceptible to bacterial infections and that if my temperature rises to 100.5 I must go straight to the Emergency Room for IV antibiotics. Ugh okay I’ll avoid the public! I did get a little catch up time with friends at the barn(s) but avoided public places like malls and grocery stores and really any place that has public bathrooms. I’m a bit bored and ready to work tomorrow even if it’s working from home and avoiding the public all week. Maybe I can get some blood work run earlier than Friday so I can go to the office…maybe that is just me being ridiculously impatient and not wanting cancer to limit my lifestyle. Also can I just say how glad I am I didn’t know my white counts were low before we got the tour and time to shoot hoops at Cameron Indoor?! So glad! Priorities.
Another side effect of taxanes I’ve been a little in denial about is peripheral neuropathy. I’m going to talk to my providers this week since I’ve noticed numbness/pain in my toes. When they ask each week if I’m experiencing any pain/tingling/numbness in my feet or hands I’ve been responding that yes a little in my feet but that I’ve had some structural issues with my feet before that caused similar pain/numbness/throbbing. I finally admitted to myself this is a little different and I finally decided to google it again…which made me realize I should let my providers know. It may be that my dose dense chemo needs to be reduced a bit because it turns out peripheral neuropathy (numbness, tingling in feet/toes/hands) damage can be and often is a permanent side effect from taxanes (which I am getting every week.) Okay now I’m gonna go back to not thinking about that until I get some medical advice.
For someone whose immune system is compromised, I feel pretty good overall. I’ve managed to get a good bit of rest over the weekend and a little bit of exercise in the form of riding and yard work. As someone who is used to taking care of most of the to-dos in life myself, I have to practice remembering to avoid semi-risky things I would normally do – e.g. I caught myself before deciding to suit up and pull up the poison ivy that has made a new home around my big gardenia. Whew. This would this not be the time to find out my body has decided to become reactive to poison ivy. So…I reached out to the guys who mow my lawn and hopefully they’ll take care of it!
As for last Friday – it was a lot of fun at DCI. I’m not sure if it’s because I always go on Fridays but all the nurses and staff I deal with are usually in a good mood and Friday was definitely no exception. Conversations ranged from whether or not beards are full of bacteria to horse trailers to hearing stories about what it was like to practice as an Emergency Room nurse at Duke Hospital in 1967! So it was super fun (for a day at the hospital) and Melissa and I had some good laughs along the way. The gift of this experience is that it makes me really appreciate beauty, laughter, and the kindness I see and experience each day.
Once again, I am grateful the many friends, family, acquaintances, strangers – sometimes also the very people I’d have least expected – have been so loving and empathetic, and I am filled with gratitude for that support.