Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Chemo Tomorrow... Already

It's that time again. I go in for round two of chemo cycle 5 tomorrow morning. This drug, Gemcitabine, has had tolerable, but unpleasant affects. It put me in bed for about half a day on Thursday and Friday last week due to fatigue and a general feeling of malaise. These effects came on sooner than previous chemo drugs. By Saturday, most of the negative effects had dissipated. The lingering side effect is slightly more numbness in my toes, feet, and fingers. This really bothers me. But, as I was browsing the Internet today, I came across an interesting article on Yahoo about a running athlete who has only prosthetic legs below his knees. The moral here is that, it could be worse. I say that, but then I think to myself, but he doesn't have cancer. Cancer puts you in a state of the unknown. This athlete in the Yahoo article will wake up tomorrow and the next day and the day after that and know he has no legs. It's a given. He'll also probably know how he'll feel day to day. With cancer and the chemo drugs, I never really know how I'm going to feel day to day. I think there is a joke in here somewhere. What's the best thing about having Alzheimer’s... you always get to meet a lot of new people. It's kind of like that for me; I get to wonder each day how I'll feel. For the most part, pretty good right now. So, I'll take that and move on to the next beating (I mean chemo treatment). I'll let you know how this infusion was tolerated in a few days. Take care everyone.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Ed - I check in every now and then to see hnow you are doing. Hopefully this new chemo will be helpful and let you feel good for a long while. It's nice to know that Jeff and Fran came out and that you have a good circle of friends. Now that we are living near family (first time since the boys went off to college) I really know how important that is. Of course your folks were like family to me for a very long time.
Anyhow keep fighting and best to Cathy
Millie

Unknown said...

Hi,

just saying hello, am a 33 year old dealing with oesophageal cancer. Like you I have had major surgery and strong chemo. All the best,

Aoife