Round 16

Amazing.  On Friday, I had my 16th round of chemo.  Again, I had a dose of Taxol, with Herceptin and Pamidronate (for my bones).

I haven't posted much about my chemo in a while for two reasons.  One is that, for a number of reasons (not readily apparent to me), I wasn't scheduled for chemo at the end of September.  Then my next chemo was delayed to a Monday due to a mixup about when we returned from Disney.  I had just more than a five week gap between treatments.  The up-side of it was that I'm on a new three-week schedule that doesn't have me getting chemo the day before my nephew's wedding in Calgary.  I am very glad that I can go with my family to the wedding.  In addition to a family reunion on my husband's side, it will also turn into a high school reunion with the same BFFs who came to visit me last November for my birthday. 

The other reason I haven't blogged for a while about my chemo is that it's going quite well.  Knock wood.  This round, I had very little in the way of side effects.  There was no nausea.  I had less fatigue than usual.  The only real problem is that Taxol can give you diarrhea, while the stomach medicine Zofran can cause constipation (as can my pain medication).  This round, I was able to experience both. 

Also, sometime in the last couple of weeks, my swelling went down.  I could wear my wedding rings for the first time in nearly a year!  My watch is now spinning around my wrist in a very annoying fashion.

So the chemo itself isn't hitting me too hard, but I realize that what has depleted my batteries is the fact that I've been on chemo for a year and had cancer for a year.  I am coming to realize that I'll ever be the same. 

More on this, in my next installment, "Power Outages, Chemo-Style."