Quick Chemo Update

I am just sitting here bored watching horrible TV and thought I would post a quick update. So I got my second round of adriamycin last monday and so far I can't complain too much. There is the usual fatigue and occassional nausea but so far its been nothing like the first time around that put me in the hospital. Major heart burn is really the only constant side effect that is continuously bugging me. It's gotten to the point where it wakes me up at night and I can't seem to do anything about it. What doesn't make sense to me is that it gets triggered by drinking cold drinks. It might just be my dumb self but does it not seem counter-intuitive that an ice cold drink would give you heart burn? My common sense tells me it would help relieve it but...

Anyway, I can tell my blood levels are getting low so I am pretty sure there will be a blood transfusion in my schedule this week. It has been 4 weeks since my last one, which is longer than we have been able to go the last few months between transfusions so that is a positive sign that we may be seeing some re-growth of my own bone marrow. 4 weeks while on chemo is definitely a good sign in my book, I am hoping we can keep that up and maybe even stretch it to 5 or 6 weeks.

How can I tell when my blood levels are getting low? It's actually really easy for me to tell when it's transfusion time. There are basically 3 or 4 obvious signs.

1) I start feeling my own pulse in my ears. This is really annoying because my hearing starts to get worse, especially late night when watching tv. The pulse in the ears is especially annoying when trying to go to sleep.

2) Next is an increase in headaches. According to my nurses this is a result of low levels of oxygen getting to the brain which makes sense.

3) Rapid heart beat. When my blood levels are really low, I can put my hand on my chest and it feels like my poor heart is going to blow out my chest. Due to the low amount of blood, the heart has to work over time to pump what little is left to the rest of my body. My nurses always look at me funny around this time because when they take my pulse and/or blood pressure, it is way higher than the average person. You would think they would be used to it by now and figure it out but every time they ask me if I have been exercising or something stupid like that. Me exercise? Ha!

4) Finally the extreme fatigue comes. When it gets really low, I just flat out feel like I am going to pass out just walking out to the refrigerator to get a drink. This is definitely the most annoying of all the signs since it basically just leaves me bed ridden.

So happy Valentine's Day to all you suckers out there.