Chemo, AC Round 2

Day 1, Treatment Day: For this round of chemo, I just wanted it to be me and Matt without any other visitors. It was nice to have that quiet time together. We both worked on our computers and chatted. Again, the chemo itself was mostly uneventful. My chemo nurse forgot to offer me ice chips/ice pop during the Adriamycin and I didn’t realize until an hour later. I made Matt run to get ice chips so hopefully the damage wasn’t already done. Now I am worried about getting mouth sores. Ugh.

We were done with chemo at about 12:30pm and I was feeling great. Matt and I stopped on our way home to have lunch and then went to a coffee shop to do work. At about 3pm, I left Matt and went home to rest. I completely crashed and napped for about 3.5 hours. I woke up at 7:30pm to read books to Aidan before he went to sleep but was still feeling totally exhausted. I listened to my body and stayed in bed for the rest of the night.

Day 2: I didn’t have a great night sleep and woke up feeling pretty groggy. Thankfully, my amazing husband got both boys out of bed and did the whole morning routine to get them ready for school. He even picked out cute outfits for both boys, packed Aidan’s lunch, and took them to school. I couldn’t even get out of bed and felt completely useless, which for anyone that knows me, knows that I hate. Aside from the exhaustion and fogginess, this useless feeling made me feel that much worse.

The only thing that I had to do that day was go back to NYU for a shot. After my first treatment I was able to do that by myself but I just didn’t feel sharp enough to go by myself this time. Luckily, Matt was able to get away from work for an hour to take me.

With the exception of going to get my shot, I spent the entire day in bed. I was completely wiped out. I wasn’t asleep the whole time but I couldn’t even focus enough to watch a TV show or read a book. I was in a total fog and it was pretty miserable.

I was able to pull myself together enough to read Aidan a book before bed but went right to sleep afterwards.

Day 3: After another night of not great sleep, I tried to wake up early enough to shower and help get the boys ready. At 6:45am, Matt looked looked at me and said, “Go back to sleep for an hour. I got it.” I was grateful that he noticed that I needed more rest but hated that I wasn’t well enough. Again, Matt did everything to get the boys ready, but I walked Aidan and Cooper to school. It felt nice to do something so normal, but I was so tired afterwards.

Other than fatigue, the side effects that I have been experiencing are headaches and insomnia. The last two nights I have woken up at 1am(sometimes prompted by a child), but I haven’t been able to go back to sleep. I had an appointment with my acupuncturist today and when I showed her where on my head I was feeling the pain and told her what hours I was awake in the night, she taught me that that both of those are somehow connected to the liver. The chemo is causing my liver to work harder which could be the cause of my headaches.

After acupuncture, I felt energized. It was a beautiful day so I decided to walk and sit in the park. I spent over 2 hours outside just walking and sitting.

I was able to be more a part of the boys’ bedtime but went to sleep right after dinner.

Day 4: Finally, I was able to get up with the boys, get them ready, and bring them to school. With each day I start to feel more and more “normal”, but I can still feel that there is something going on in my body. I just feel a little foggy and shaky all the time. I guess that’s a good thing because hopefully that means that the chemo is doing its job, but I hate the feeling.

Chemo Status: 50% through AC which they say is the hardest on your body. 2 out of 4 AC sessions complete with 12 more T sessions to follow.