Day -3

It's getting eerily close now, only three days until my new birthday.  Luckily, so far I have not felt that bad, and today I managed to get my morning routine out the way before they started all the premeds.  I also managed to get the first round of lasix out the way early so that when the ativan, benadryl and chemotherapy came to the party I was ready for nothing but a nice little nap.  And that I did.  I felt a little bit bad for my mother who was there to keep me company and all I did was sleep.

But it hasn't all been plain sailing today.  To start with I have found it much harder to sleep at the right times.  I was getting into a routine of sleeping when the sedating meds were in force, and then being awake when they were off.  Now, no matter how much steroids they give me I still feel tired.  I think I will be hitting a period of 16 - 18 hours of sleep per day.

Secondly,  as I had expected, my appetite has diminished somewhat.  I have had a little nausea but no vomiting.  Realistically I feel quite lucky.  After reading about the experiences of others who have had chemotherapy for the same reason and for others, nausea and vomitting is one thing that they have not been able to control no matter what the medications they have used.

As I said before, expect the worst but hope for the best.  So far I admit it has been no picnic, but it has been way better than I thought it would be.  Realistically I always assumed it would be somewhere in the middle, but I am currently batting well above average.  Touch wood, I will stay that way.

The last side effect that has been bestowed upon me, and it is really not that big a problem is the hiccups.  Yes, after each meal or a big drink I seem to have an uncontrollable bout of hiccups.  But come on, is it really that bad?  Everyone has had the hiccups from time to time and they always seem to pass after about five or ten minutes.

So that is it for my day.  Right now I am just waiting for the rabbit ATG to run out and one more dose of lasix and then I'lll be done.  Just one more day of chemo left, two more ATG's followed by stem cell infusion.  It's all getting eerily close.  Stay well:)