Hello everyone!
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. It was nice for us to have a few extra days before the next treatment, so we were able to make our first solo Thanksgiving dinner. We had lots of food and everything turned out well!
Sorry that I didn’t write after treatment 6, so here I am making two posts in one after treatment 7. Only one more to go! You’ll hear from me again after Christmas.
Well not much new here with me, just the same old crap. So much for the medicine to help my hiccups! I had the worst hiccups yet after round 6, going on for three days. My throat is still feeling quite sore/strange. I made a bigger deal about this with my doctor, as I worry about any potential damage done to my throat/vocal cords. Probably nothing to worry about, but at least being so miserable from non-stop hiccups would be nice! So I got a different medication to try.
Well so far, the day after round 7, it doesn’t seem to help much. I’ve been in bed/couch most of the day, as laying down is the only surefire way to keep the hiccups at bay. I have been able to sing for Masses all Sundays of Advent so far, but it has been a stretch. My energy levels are overall very low. I even did a few tunings, which made me feel proud, but boy did they take every last ounce of power I had left.
I’ve said before that I have been feeling pretty tired. That more true this time than at the last post! It doesn’t take much to make me completely exhausted for the day. This won’t be a super long post just because I’m so tired and I find it hard to mentally focus for long periods. It feels a lot like one step forward, two steps back.
I have to push myself to not be a couch-potato, which I certainly have been. I’ve slept so much, and so well, lately, that I feel a lot less stressed. This is a welcome change, but paradoxically, I am still so tired. That’s ok – more cuddle time with Bella as the days get colder!
An uncomfortable change
Something else has happened, that hasn’t happened in over 10 years. I am now clean shaven! Most of my mustache and facial hair around my chin had simply fallen out, and the rest was looking like a high school boy trying to grow out what little peach fuzz he could. I decided, very solemnly, that it had to go. So, I cut my head hair down to a shorter length and went clean shaven. I HATE IT. My face is so cold now! But hopefully in a few months, it will all come back again.
My head hair is very thinned out now. Luyang affectionately calls me “Kiwi-head”, since it seems to her to look like the skin of a kiwi. Such love!
Next steps
I learned at the latest doctor appointment that I will have yet another PET scan in early January, after I’ve finished Chemo treatments. (Do they have a buy 2, get one free discount on these things!?) After that, I will have a consultation with the radiation folks. I hope I don’t need to do it, as it will mean another month or more of treatments, 5 days a week, but we shall see. They won’t decide until they’ve seen the latest PET results.
Anyway, one more chemo treatment to go! I can’t wait to be done.
Now it’s time for another nap…
Till next time – thank you for reading, and I hope you all have a Merry and Blessed Christmas!