Chemo Round 3 Update

I have a couple of longer updates and posts in my draft form, but I can’t seem to get them finished, so wanted to give you a quick update on how Round 3 of chemo went. Overall, I am getting used to the routine and the cycle of chemo and I have been handling it well.

The biggest side effect is exhaustion. Now, admittedly I also don’t sleep all that well. During the initial days after chemo, there are the steroids and some pain, so that contributes to not sleeping well. And chemo dehydrates you, so I have to drink a lot, which, of course means I wake up and pee a lot, so that doesn’t help the sleep either! Now that I’m about a little over a week back from treatment, I am starting to get back to normal, so hoping sleep comes back. Which just leave the chemo exhaustion.

Chemo, in plain English, attacks the fast growing stuff in your body. This includes the tumor, my hair and red blood cells. Red blood cells and the hemoglobin (pictured) in the cells carry oxygen and they are also being attacked by the chemo. These get tested with every round of chemo and I see the numbers going down. But I don’t really need the lab results to tell me this: I can tell from the lack of energy that I have.

I’m able to do most of my routine activities, but I’m just clearly not working out or doing anything extra! I tend to stick close to home and keep it chill after work. I do enjoy walks, but they are getting shorter. It is expected that exhaustion will continue to increase through this next round. (And radiation often brings its own exhaustion as well, so it seems like I’ll continue to be tired most of the rest of this year!)

So what’s next? Only one more chemo cycle! Then, I return for all the images: mammogram, ultrasound and MRI. That will help the surgeons determine the next path with treatment. I’ll know more about that path in mid-October.