New chemo report

Good news so far! My bone pain has decreased incredibly, despite taking off 25 micrograms of Fentanyl, bringing me back down to 100. Yesterday I could hardly walk even with crutches, I couldn't put on or take off my socks without very painful contortions, and my pain was a 7 to a 9. Today I can get up and move around and the pain is barely noticeable, perhaps a 1. Obviously a huge and encouraging improvement.

Yesterday during and after chemo I was quite spacy and groggy. Grace told me today that she had to ask me things up to 12 times before I would respond. I would fall asleep in the middle of motions, like raising a glass to my lips - fortunately my mom always stopped me from spilling on myself. Sometimes I would come to with no idea of how long I had been out. I was daydreaming while I was half-sleeping, so I would often come to by blurting out something that must have made sense in my daydream, but not to me or the people around me. I also had a surprisingly hard time separating my daydreams from reality. Today I feel less spacey and groggy, and able to have a conversation, but I wouldn't trust myself to drive yet.

The side effects have been exactly as I was led to expect. Less GI upset and "sick to my stomach" feeling, but peripheral neuropathy instead. This morning I washed my hands in cold water and my fingers felt weird and prickly, and it took me a minute to remember about the neuropathy. Later I got something out of the fridge and felt it again - like lots of bee strings, but not that bad. Actually, it's not that painful and fades quickly, although I've read that it gets worse over time. But it still surprises me and it's hard to remember to avoid the things that aggravate it, like cold things, such as (gulp) ice cream. That's a kick in the Nooksack, or rather, the Tillamook (local jokes).

I haven't felt any unusual fatigue yet, but that doesn't usually arrive until after we disconnect the 5FU pump, which we will do tomorrow at noon. I didn't sleep at all last night. Despite all my grogginess during the day, maybe I got enough rest in little naps, or maybe it was the buzz of all the drugs, but when it was time to go to bed I just stayed at my desk, working on emails and blogs and other little errands, and before I knew it the sun was up. I do plan to sleep tonight, whether I feel like it or not.

Ethan