Ah – it’s prednisone crash day, so of course, Dave Matthews is providing today’s earworm. The great part about crashing today? I totally expected it. I’m exhausted (carried a laundry basket upstairs and almost needed a nap). A little achy (could be the crash, could be last week’s Neulasta). Breathing is a little tight, but nothing like the last two times. Parotids are a little tender, but no worse than before this round of prednisone. Plantar fasciitis heel pain is still at bay (for now). I’ve only got two new developments this cycle. The first is a bit more neuropathy in my left hand. When I go for my port draw tomorrow, I also get to see Sara, the NP, so I’ll bring it up to her. But, since it’s been coming and going, bit by bit since this whole chemo adventure started, I’m not really worried.
The second, which really came first, is my period (for my male readers, sorry – feel free to skip the rest of this post if you’d rather). Prior to all of this cancer hullaballoo, I’d been a satisfied customer of the NuvaRing. In fact, so satisfied, that I used it continuously, which allowed me to not have a period (as mine were horrendous with cramps and headaches for which I could do nothing because I can’t take NSAIDs). After about 4 or 5 years of this menstrual hiatus, I did get one period in January 2014. I guess a body has to flush once in a while. Then, surprisingly (to me, anyway), I got another just as we were figuring out my diagnosis and treatment plan (March 2015).
One of my most disturbing bits of news (you know, other than the fact that I have cancer), which I received midflow, was that I was not going to be allowed to use any hormonal birth control until treatment was over (apparently, I was going to have enough chemical/biological disturbance going on with all those toxins they’d be pumping into me). And, the chemo would make my already irregular periods even more so. Hooray! Surprise party! So, I took my NuvaRing out as soon as I found out about this rule, and joy, my period lasted another 5 days (10 total!).
Two months went by before Aunt Flo visited again, and did she ever! At one point, I was going through a tampon every 1.5 to 2 hours. How did Judy Blume manage to get us all excited for this shiz to happen? Thankfully, it didn’t last as long as last time, and though I had the cramps from hell, at least the migraine stayed away. All this fun could be due to the chemo, or it could be from the incidentals we found in my uterus from my last CT – a couple fibroids and a thickened lining. We’ll probe (ha ha) into those issues some more when chemo’s done. Here’s hoping I luck out and only get one more visit from Flo during all of this.
Original Comments from the CaringBridge Blog:
Ugh! Sending positive thoughts your way:)
—Susan Rosenthal, June 1, 2015