Julie can't eat cheese

Alrighty – 3 Red Devils down! Luckily it feels like this round is going by quickly. I can’t believe I only have 1 more left.

Dan’s sister came in the day before (3/21) chemo to help us and it was a HUGE help to have her here for a week. The previous cycle, Dan had to drop me off, then turn back around to drop P off at school, then turn around again to come back up to get me. [The medical center is 30 minutes north of us.] So he was able to just drop me off and run some errands near the medical center this time.

I power ate again the days before in preparation for getting my neutrophils up! Lots of omega 3s, oranges, and dark chocolate as soon as food sounded good again. I was singing “I got that big neutrophil energy” to the Latto song “Big Energy” in the car on the way to chemo.

And it worked! My neutrophils were up = good! But my liver function was also way up = bad! It was only one part of the metabolic panel and the other parts were all fine… so my oncologist said it was a bit of a mystery, but pointing to liver inflammation. We will see how my next labs look and if the level is still up, I will be referred for an ultrasound. *sigh* My rational brain knows it is probably from chemo or maybe the new vegan multivitamin I started taking? But my irrational brain now assumes the worst. But I did order a different multivitamin just in case (Dan says it is highly unlikely it was my multivitamin). I got a gummy this time – I am taking so many different things, it has been getting harder to swallow pills (almost like I have an increased gag reflex and can’t get pills down).

It was a busy day in the infusion center and I got the last open chair. I took my premeds, waited for them to kick in, then got Red Devil #3 (my palms still get sweaty!), and then it was on to Cytoxin. They had said after my first Cytoxin they could speed it up to 30 minutes since I didn’t have a reaction, but round 2 & 3 I was a bit of a baby and requested 45 minutes instead. The nurses are amazing and said I could take as long as I wanted! Then I picked up my shots at the pharmacy and we headed home – where I slept the rest of the afternoon.

Cycle 3 has had more intense side effects than my first 2 cycles. It has definitely kicked my butt – I started feeling sore all over on Thursday afternoon (3/23) and it lasted almost until Sunday. I was not allowed to take any pain medication due to my liver levels and I tried some of the RSO but it did nothing. I mostly slept Thursday afternoon – Sunday. I had to cancel acupuncture on Friday (I vomited in the morning and didn’t think I could make it in a car there). I started to feel a little better on Sunday afternoon, but the fatigue has been worse overall and lasted longer. My hair is continuing to fall out – it’s patchy on my head and itchy. I am not rocking a bald look at home – I am still wearing beanies. My eyebrows and eyelashes are hanging on!

I was back to work on Monday (3/27). I haven’t been moving as much as I should be. I have gotten a few rides in and even did a yoga class last Thursday, but I just feel really drained. Food has taken longer to sound good (still not sounding great) and my mouth has been hurting. I don’t think I have any actual sores but it feels really sensitive and some foods hurt to eat. I am still constantly hungry – which is fun trying to find things to eat that actually sounds good.

I got fitted for my compression sleeve on 3/28 and should get those in 2 weeks. Have compression sleeve – will travel??? I told Dan to watch out, I may start getting a lot more YOLO!

I am hoping chocolate sounds good again soon. I need that big big neutrophil energy for my last Red Devil 4/5!