Undecided

It is 3:00 AM Sunday morning. I wasn’t feeling that well on Saturday, so I slept much of the day. That helped. We did enjoy watching Casino Royal at a friend’s house this evening. Good action packed movie for both men and women. I also watched some of the Players Championship (golf) on TV during the day. Tiger is still in it, but 14 strokes back. Shane O’Hair is in the lead over Michelson by 1 stroke at 9 under par. My guess is that Tiger can’t wait to get out of town later today.

I’m partially paying the price right now for sleeping during the day on Saturday, but also because I’m in some pain and discomfort. I may have overdone it on Friday night by playing golf. Although we only played a few holes, I had to sit some of those out because it was too draining on me physically. It is also a bit demoralizing when you’re not up to you’re “A” game and you know it’s not you, but the effects of the chemo fatigue, medicine, and lack of practice. I played double bogie golf instead of bogie golf. This is a significant difference to someone who enjoys the game. Getting together to play was more about seeing my friend, catching up, and getting some fresh air, than the golf, so all in all it was a terrific, but brief, outing. It’s been 5 hours since taking my last pain pill. I usually like to wait 7 – 8 hours between doses. That is what I’m UNDECIDED about; taking a new dose now or waiting an hour or two. My fingers, hands, and toes are tingly and slightly numb. This is a common chemo side affect, but one that my doctor takes seriously as to the toxicity of the chemo drugs. These drugs can result in permanent numbness. I will mention this to him in an e-mail on Monday. He may want to dial back the dosage slightly for next week. The pain though is coming from my bones, mostly in my legs (upper and lower), hips, and arms (mostly lower). This is a common side effect of the Neupogen shot. I’m on a high dose of this drug, 300 micrograms 3 times per week now. Its purpose is to kick your bone marrow into high gear to create more white blood cells. On a 1 to 10 scale, the pain is a 3 or 4. The pain is just enough to make sleeping impossible. I just re-looked at the side effects on one of the Neupogen web sites. Bone pain was the most common side effect and it said it could be address via non-narcotic pain medicine. This makes me feel a bit better; misery loves company and all that. It also makes me feel more comfortable about taking my pain dosage earlier than waiting. It’s now 4:00 AM; I took my medicine and recorded it in my drug log. Undecided no more as someone might say.

I keep telling myself that I’m more than half way through this chemo cycle and the last chemo dose will be at the end of May. That’s only 2.5 weeks out. I plan to see this cycle through to its natural end.