The Fatigue Week

Somehow although I just did this 5 day chemo thing last month, I forgot how tired I get the week after I leave the hospital. I keep doing my workout in the morning and then being surprised that I need a nap at some point in the day. I rebounded so well last month once the counts started to come up that I totally forgot how the period right after chemo leaves me feeling washed out. I am using my energy begets energy motto though to push through the tiredness and make sure I do a run or row in the morning. It just takes more out of me than I think it should. My doctor said that I'd get a little more beaten down as the rounds progress. I guess there is something that piles up or accumulates with each round of chemo that entrenches the fatigue just a bit more. But I guess that is one of the reasons for putting 4-6 weeks between each cycle- to rebound as much as possible in as many ways as possible.

I took a walk at lunchtime, and I was thinking about the irony of taking what is essentially a poison to cure yourself from your own rogue cancer cells. I was thinking about how the nurses who took care of me in the hospital would put on a gown to shield their clothes from spills of the chemo as they hooked it up to the catheter in my chest. They also put on two sets of gloves to protect their hands from coming into contact with the liquid. One nurse said they have been taught at conferences to wear a protective face mask since some of the chemo is aerosolized when they push the connector for the tubing into the chemo bag. I find it bit ironic that they take all of those precautions to avoid having even a drip of chemo come into contact with them, while I took it straight into a big vein that runs from my chest directly into my heart. Interesting and amazing that someone even thought of it. More interesting and amazing that it can cure me. Enough about that.