Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Cycle Two Passes Without Incident

Editor's Note: I wrote this on December 5, but then promptly forgot to post it. Plus it's a pretty boring entry and I feel like the people expect tremendous prose and wit in each entry. After all, I was voted "Wittiest Male" in my senior class at Yukon High School in 1982. Try living up to that responsibility every day of your life for the past 25 years. No wonder my brain exploded. On to the entry...

I finished my second cycle of post-radiation chemotherapy on Monday, December 3, and things went swimmingly. Unlike round one, which occurred in the jet wash of radiation therapy and pummeled me unmercifully, I felt mostly up to snuff this time around.

I took the fine Dr. Fine's advice this time around and took the drugs in the a.m. rather than the evening. I don't think it really made a difference medicine-wise, but it was better schedule-wise.

The stuff has to be taken on an empty stomach so that means 2-3 hours after a meal. The rationale for taking it in the evening at bedtime is that if you experience any nausea is that you will sleep through it. But it also means that can't eat or drink anything after about 8 p.m. For the morning routine, I just set my alarm a little early, take the preemptive anti-nausea pill, lie in the dark for about 15 minutes and then scarf down the chemotherapy drugs. I go back to sleep for an hour or so and then I am ready to start my day with a hearty plantation breakfast or whatever happens to be in stock.

Cycle 3 begins on Thursday, December 27. Hopefully, it won't interfere with any New Year's Eve plans we have yet to make because people won't invite us because they still think I'm still sickly and will ruin their party, but I'm really not so I won't. Or maybe it's just because I'm an ass.

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