They call me Mr. Side Effect

It has been two full weeks and I go tomorrow for treatment number 3, this time around. So I thought that I would give you a quick rundown of what my week looks like. Tomorrow will be a 5 to 6 hour treatment. I come home feeling drugged from the Benedryl that they give me and that usually carries over into Saturday. Sunday I start off feeling pretty good and that lasts long enough for me to tell someone that I think I'll be able to go to work Monday. Then early in the afternoon the fatigue hits like a train wreck. This past Sunday the fatigue was so bad that it affected my eyesight. White signs were a shiny blur. The fatigue carries through Monday morning to the point of having to either fall down or sit down after my shower. I usually choose to sit and this is when I call work and tell them it aint happenin'. Monday afternoon starts the nausea. I take Zyprexa for nausea (one of the side effects of Zyprexa is that it helps with my multiple personalities. :O) and it takes a couple hours for it to really take effect. Tuesday evening is when the diarrhea sets in and I have become an Imodium aficionado. But it takes a while for the Imodium to work so we are well into Wednesday before things start to level out. It took until this morning this week to feel half way descent and tomorrow we will start it all over again.

Fatigue and the rash are with me all week. The chemically induced fatigue I have tried to describe a couple of times. The rash is red and pimple like. It starts at about my waist and goes to the top of my head. It hurts, it itches and is generally an irritation. It hurts to scratch and if I do scratch it makes a mess. It has dried out my skin like a sunburn and I'm having to put lotion on everywhere. Here are a couple examples of irritation. Since my scalp is covered it hurts to lay my head on a pillow. There is so much dead skin that I am having to blow it off of my glasses every half hour or so, so that I can see. My face, which was once really cute, is now butt ugly.

I'm not complaining. Folks have asked what is going on and I'm just reporting. These are the obstacles we are having to negotiate right now.
We are trying to find a balance. The cancer is trying to kill me and the doctors are giving me drugs that could kill me. Pray that we find the right balance to kill the cancer and not me. :O)

I have to mention that Pam is incredible. She has been strength, hope and encouragement every single day.

God is good all the time!!
jim

Proverbs 12:4 A hearty wife invigorates her husband, but a frigid woman is cancer in the bones. (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)