October 7, 2010

Chemo 4 hit a little harder than the previous ones, but still very bearable.  Fatigue has been greater and earlier this time, and I had my first bout with any nausea/vomiting yesterday morning, but it my be only tangentially related to the chemo.  I think it's more related to my allergies, which have been somehow exacerbated by the chemo. My tiredness seems to be all in and behind my eyes - my eyes are at half mast most of the time.  My queasiness is from all the post nasal drip (or fountain, as the case may be) filling my stomach and throat with constant phlegm (I remember when that was a spelling word in 7th grade).  So, yesterday when I brushed my teeth and experienced the gag reflex that sometimes occurs, it didn't stop there.

Once that bout passed, though, what lingered was some pretty fierce heartburn all day.  Nothing appealed to me for breakfast, but the cat and I had a bowl of cereal (not at the same time; she gets the bit of flavored milk I leave in my bowl).  Had a Carver Business Council meeting at the shop at 9:30, for which I always supply coffee and something home-baked.  This time it was pumpkin cranberry bread.  I was trying out a new coffee for the shop (Brazil Bahia), so I had a couple of cups.  (I later learned caffeine exacerbates heartburn.)  For lunch I could only manage a 6 oz cup of fat free cherry yogurt.

Al was with me at the shop (he took yesterday and today off from work to support me), and by mid-afternoon, I was looking forward to getting home.  It had been a real slow day at the shop.  A customer had come in after lunch looking for pink flowers (I had 10 small pink 'Blushing Akito' roses).  Her sister's 3-year-old granddaughter had died unexpectedly, and they were asked to wear something pink to the visitation (yesterday evening) and funeral (today).  I told her I could make up simple corsages, as many as she needed - a rose, a little sprig of baby's breath, a couple of leaves of Israeli ruskus and a pink shimmering bow with a pink jewel corsage pin.  She said she'd talk it over with others in her party, to see if they wanted her to do that, and get back to me.  At 3:00 she walked in and asked how long it would take to make up all 10 roses into corsages; I told her about an hour.  She said they'd be back at 4:00.  So for the next hour I wired and taped 10 little corsages together, while Al bagged them.  The activity was nice - I knew we'd get it done in time, so I wasn't stressed.  I love making corsages anyway, so that was no problem,  And it took my mind off how I was feeling.

After she left, I got a call at 4:15 PM.  A customer was on his way home and remembered it was his wife's birthday.  He wanted to know if I could put together a nice fall bouquet for him to pick up before we closed at 5:00 PM.  He was afraid he might not make it before we closed, and I told him if he wasn't there, we'd drop it off (free of charge, since he lives near us) on our way home.  I put together a beautiful bouquet for him with magnolia leaves, yellow roses and cushion and button mums, red carnations, millet, goldenrod, and fall leaves and tied it with a ribbon bow of falling leaves.  He made it in plenty of time.  So the last two hours of the day turned out to be pretty active.

When I got home, I looked up in our Medica Health Book about heartburn.  It said to avoid caffeine, oranges, tomatoes, chocolate, peppermint or spearmint flavorings, fat and fried food.  That didn't leave much.  While crunching Tums, I had visions of reheated pasties for dinner, but I knew the crust and ketchup would come back at me all night.  So I had another bowl of cereal and later a few saltines.  Al brought me a Joe Mauer Malt Cup while we were watching the game, but I knew the chocolate and buttermilk ingredients would make me sorry.

It was worth the sacrifice, I think.  I feel much better this morning.  Still have tired, squinty, watery eyes, but my stomach and esophagus seem to have settled down.  We'll see what today brings.