Thanksgiving is over and time to move onto the Christmas Holidays. Not sure why, thinking it must be chemo brain, but I'm having 3 1/2 holiday parties here at the house. I've been working on decorating the house, inside and out for several weeks now. I haven't gone all out in years and doubt I'll do it again next year, it's a lot of work just getting the decorations out of the basement. I have to say, it does look very festive and I'm glad I did it thou. Now onto chemo news.... I relented and said I'd have the iron treatments...bad choice! Went for the first one and waited for an hour while they went back and forth with my insurance company on whether or not they would pay for it. I finally left without getting the treatment as I had plans to meet Abby. After getting it settled, ( they will pay for the hour treatment, not the 20 minute one) I went week two. Not too bad, but my blood pressure was high, 195/95. I figured it was stress related as I hate to go to the clinic. That night I came down with a terrible headache and it continues....I went for week three yesterday and asked my nurse Tina whether or not getting the iron could be the cause. She told me "yes" one of the side effects of getting iron is headaches. Today I had chemo and would say I feel good, but the headache is terrible. My head feels like it could explode. I started taking vicodin, but it's not doing much to curb the pain. My blood pressure was 161/91 yesterday, today she waited till I was there for awhile before taking it and it was 140/90...more in my range. I have to go again tomorrow for my white blood cell shot and am going to cancel my next iron appointment scheduled for next week. The Dr. said it would make me feel better, but I've had two terrible weeks with this pain and don't think I can handle another one. The good news is my CA-125 is 8.5. I don't remember what it was when it was taken last, as they have to send the blood work in and the last two times they didn't order the CA-125. I'm thinking it was in the 11-12 range? No matter, it's really close to where we want it, going down and not up. Hoping to get a few hours of sleep tonight, as I will be sleeping sitting up in the chair due to the heartburn and metallic taste I get after chemo. Dinner tonight was buttered noodles, ginger ale ,mandarin oranges, tums and vicodin.....and a sleeping pill in a little while. A glass of wine and a steak on the grill sounds much better!!!! Today, Abby & I shared a private room with a very nice man ( 55 yrs old ) who just found out last week he has leukemia. He was at the clinic for 6 hours yesterday, went and had a pic line put in early this morning and was there for chemo and will be going the rest of the week..then into the hospital for 3 weeks. His spirits were high and he referred to himself as a "rookie" in his cancer journey. I didn't ask him his name, but sometimes it's best to just say "hi" and ask how they are doing when you see them again. My prayer list is getting longer all the time. Asking that you say a prayer for my friend Nancy as she had her first chemo on Monday. She was diagnosed with breast cancer, they thought they could get it all with radiation , but decided she needed chemo. It has been quite devastating to her and she is struggling. Looking forward to the Holiday's and spending time with family & friends, hoping to get rid of the headache and will post pictures soon of the decorated house for all to see who are on face book Peace & Love Marcia
