Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It’s a beautiful sunny day in Yakima, with temps breaking 50 degrees and the snow melting away – So Kevin and I went for a walk! It was the first time out walking in a very long time – we’ve had snow on the ground since early February. We even have crocuses blooming today! Here’s a picture of our house and crocuses:
The snow bank receded enough to allow the crocuses to come up. 
Our house faces south, so most of the snow has melted in the front, but there is still quite a bit of snow in the backyard.
Here’s how things have been going for me lately. My chemo is now every Monday, with a visit with the oncologist every 3rd Monday. I still am running a very low-grade fever most afternoons/evenings, 98.8-99.3 (it seemed like it was getting better last week, but I was 98.9 this afternoon… so it’s still there). My oncologist as well as my nurses don’t think I need to worry about this because my labs all look very good, and because when I take Tylenol the fever goes away. They suspect that it’s just how my body responds to what it is going through. Mondays after my chemo I come home and sleep the rest of the day (thanks to the Benadryl). Tuesdays after chemo I feel GREAT! … probably due to the pre-meds they load me up with on Monday before the chemo. Wednesdays I feel pretty good, but start to wear out by late afternoon. Thursdays I feel okay, but start to wear out by midafternoon, and Fridays I feel okay, until midday when I just need to rest. I focus on resting on the weekends – reading, computering, napping. I’ve been able to work from home a little over half-time.
The side effects I’ve been having with the Taxol have been less grueling than the side effects I had with Adriamycin/Cytoxan in Dec/Jan. Here’s my list: Hair loss (but it was already gone, so no big deal). Watery eyes and drippy nose. Dry ear wax (weird but true). Fragile skin – it seems more wrinkly and crepe paper-like than before, and my nose bleeds a tiny bit. Dry skin – so very very dry! I get so tired when I take a shower, not because of the shower itself, but aftwards it’s a lot of work and it takes forever to lather on the lotion everywhere! Heartburn – ugh… I’ve never had heartburn before, but they assure me that it’s very common with Taxol, and I’m now taking Omeprazole to help with it. Sometimes I’ll have a few random strong hiccups that I think are related to the heartburn. Fatigue – though not as debilitating as with the A/C chemo. The Best thing about the side effects is that I have NO nausea, and am not taking any nausea meds!!
A little over a week ago I noticed a few little tiny bumps on my hands and feet that were sometimes itchy. After my massage a week ago I developed a few blisters on my toes. My theory is that the little bumps were irritated either by the foot scrub or the foot scrub’s hot water. Anyway, the blisters cleared up without breaking open… but I still have tiny little bumps on my hands and feet. Today when we got home from our walk, my feet were especially itchy and hot. I think that heat irritates this “rash”. For now, “we” (my medical team and I) are just keeping an eye on things.
When Kevin removed the carpet in the basement about a year ago, he packed up several bookcases worth of (my) books in boxes. Two weeks ago I was wishing for more books, so we went downstairs and dug through a couple boxes, coming up with a dozen Dick Francis books. Sadly, I’ve re-read them all now. I thought it would be time to go digging in more boxes, where I’m sure there are more DF books… but instead we went on an expedition to the library yesterday, and I checked out 3 of their 4 Dick Francis books. I also picked up 3 other books. That was yesterday morning. This afternoon I have already finished 2 of the books, lol! THAT is how I rest.
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