Day 1 Second Cycle of ICE

What a week! My appointment should have been on Monday but in the advent of 'Hurricane Sandy' aka 'Frankenstorm', it was pushed to today -Thursday. My appointment was for 4pm but my doctor specially requested that I come in to see her first around 1:30. I did not arrive to see her until about 2:30. There was surprisingly NO traffic coming into the city. I unexpectedly had to get a bone marrow biopsy done today, THANKFULLY my doctor is good at what she does & she made it hurt the least possible. It was probably the least painful bone marrow biopsy I've gotten done. As soon as it was done a woman from the Stem Cell team came & spoke to me about the coming procedures I'll have to undergo before I start my transplant.

I finally arrived at my main hospital around 5pm (an hour late) & they took me to my room quite quickly. Here I am sitting quite bored because I keep being asked a million repeat questions about recent symptoms, how I feel, my medical history, etc. It really gets annoying after awhile. My nurse right now is pretty dull, but her shift ends soon & I'm hoping the one I have overnight has some personality. My vitals are good, weight remains the same.

Exercise Update: I'm disappointed in myself for being lazy during 'Sandy', I did a tiny bit of exercise but nothing to be proud of. Today I made sure to lift some weights though: db bicep curls, db military press, situps, lunges, squats for the most part.

Also, since Halloween didn't really get to happen this year I decided to wear my Batman outfit today. I swear I don't look crazy! :)

Back to Exercising

My aunts came in from Puerto Rico yesterday for a short visit. We went out to eat and do a bit of window shopping. I feel good. As we were shopping I saw a box set of weights for a decent price and came home with it. Last night I did some challenging upper body exercises w/ my new weights & since they are big plates they make me look very strong ;) I love it! Its all illusion though, they aren't as heavy as they look. I'm so happy I made the purchase because I miss having muscular arms. I cancelled my gym membership a month ago because I figured I wouldn't be able to workout much or be in a public environment now that my immune system is down.

Today I had to run an important errand so I woke up early and walked over 2 1/2 miles, pretty much 3 if you count the extra walking I did after I got to my destination. Oh! And can you believe it? Some guy actually hit on me today on my walk (remember I'm bald). I was wearing a cap but you can tell I have no hair, so that was a little surprising. Tonight I was invited to try a free Zumba class. Lets see how my body holds up. I feel like my normal self. I feel great. Can't complain. The next few days should be uneventful in relation to my treatment. I return for my next 3 day ICE chemotherapy on Monday.

And Now I'm Bald

Bad hair day Korra.

I have been feeling back to my normal self since Friday morning so I didn't think I needed to update too much this weekend.

I noticed my hairs starting to fall off on Friday, by Saturday morning I was realizing I was excessively shedding. All of Saturday my hair fell off everywhere & was becoming bothersome/itchy/messy. I tied it up for bed to awake on Sunday morning with a head full of knots. It wasn't normal knotting, it was the hairs falling off getting caught in the hair that was not. I tried, my husband tried, & later even my mother tried to untangle the mess but it was almost impossible to maintain because it continued to knot. I decided, it was time. My hair would have fallen off completely by the end of this week if I let it, but I saved my bed sheets & floor the hassle of it sticking everywhere.

Last night my brother buzzed it all off so I'm BALD. We had fun cutting up funny hair styles before it was all shaved off. My dad took pics but I forgot to get them. I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed that we had to shave it all off this time. We tried to get a short "GI Jane" look going but my hair was patchy this time. It took a moment for me to get used to being bald but I don't look too bad I think. From the front its not terrible, but from the back its still kind of patchy since I still have tiny little spikes of hair. Honestly I'm only upset about the fact that now I really look like a sick person. And that bothers me because I'm not really unhealthy or that sick. I feel strong, & I don't like that people will look at me & assume I'm weak. I will wear a wig or head tie until all the stubble falls off but I don't mind walking around bald.

Every morning my dog comes to sleep in the bed with me. This morning when my husband let her into the room she jumped up on the bed & I sat up to greet her (also try to startle her) but she just gave me a funny look. Instead of being scared thinking I was a stranger she recognized me but with hesitation because she approached me & re-sniffed me all around. It was like she had to sniff me up & down to make sure I was who she thought I was. It was cute and then she caught me off guard & started licking my head so I had to pull her off me haha! Also I got weighed today: 120lbs (keeping steady) Heart rate 87bpm & blood pressure good, no fever :)

Nauseous Night

It was a pretty rough night. I went out to dinner last night (not very smart of me I know), had a great time considering my insides felt horrible. I couldn't fully enjoy my dinner, I don't think I ate enough, the food did not want to go down. I can't explain why, but by the time I got back home I was feeling the worst of it. Possibly too much exertion walking & maintaining my body temperature (it was COLD out). When I got into bed around 10pm I felt this extreme exhaustion, my head hurt, my heart rate was high, and I didn't feel like I was breathing well. I woke up around 2am nauseous, the most I've felt yet. I thought I might throw up, so I got up & did some breathing exercises, trying to contain myself. I sat down in the kitchen, made myself 2 cups of ginger & honey tea, all the while trying to relax my breathing & heart rate. My resting heart rate was 120, so that was a concern. I went back to bed & continued to wake up almost every hour. Thankfully my heart rate has somewhat normalized, if you can call 104bpm "normal", but my heart tends to beat faster than most people anyway. The nausea subsided & best of all my breathing is better. It was a scary night waking up with a trio of problems multiple times & wondering 'when the hell is this weird feeling going to go away?' or 'will it?'

I'm afraid to walk very far now. Geeze. I guess I'm learning that this new chemo has a very delayed effect on my body & just when you think your getting better -your not. So I'm just going to keep on that nap schedule. As boring as it is, napping seems to be better for my body than walking lately.