musings from post chemo dawn day 2

Awoke coughing at 0255, no blood, 96.6˚F (35.8˚C) body temp. 

Fatigue, fatigue, and mo’ fatigue dominates the post chemo hours. ‘Slo-mow Patrick’ is not a comfortable skin for me.

Trying to fall back to sleep cancer sows seeds of doubt in this new garden of fatigue.  

Roused again 0628 by coughing, no blood, 97.0˚F (36.1˚C) body temp. (I use both Fahrenheit and Celsius because increasing medical people use Celsius, somewhat like learning a second language in this war to live.)

Yesterday I learned, to my relief, that post chemo coughing can be triggered by a variety of external and internal reasons. The operative word is blood and no bloody cough. … Nor have I forgotten in the fatigue coupled with sleeplessness the post chemo absence of nausea or vomiting. I am grateful.

Best idiosyncratic moment was buying a new refrigerator from Best Buy and delivered yesterday. To hell with outliving cancer I’m starting by outliving this refrigerator.  

Another quirky moment occurred toward end of yesterday’s 7 hour chemo drip. My fingers and hands though never immersed in water appeared waterlogged by the end of the day, as if they had been at the beach.

Noticing the bruises of war can be freaky but this will not be a pretty fight. Personally I kind of like the “z” shaped bruise from blood draws and with a little Googling discovered that the “Z” may have its origin in the Semitic symbol named zayin which possibly meant "weapon".

Speaking of weapons it’s time to start forcing liquids. Armed with my 32 oz Holy Spirit Hospital jug I knocked down Gatorade G2 lemon lime yesterday only to discover I should be knocking down 2 to 3 jugs and no reason to go with their low calorie version. So today it’s a Gatorade ‘blue’ day.

Frozen Virgin piña coladas whipped up in our blender can oh so hit the spot and the best fatigue buster weapon is always available a cat nap with or without Stardust our cat.

post chemo clock = 40 hrs and counting ...

Patrick Leer

Health Activist:

Caregivingly Yours, MS Caregiver @ http://caregivinglyyours.blogspot.com/

My Lung Cancer Odyssey @ http://lung-cancer-survivor.blogspot.com/