I had my 9th round of chemo this morning at 8:30. This time it was Josh and Kristin (sis-in-law) that tagged along for the fun. I got a little nervous that chemo would not be taking place after seeing my lab results. My WBC (white blood count) was a bit low, but that's not out of the norm for me. It was the neutrophils that were super low coming in at 0.35. The neutrophils are our bodies main infection fighters. Do the math: infection fighters being very low + seeing lots of people over the Christmas holiday weekend = Steph needing to keep her distance to stay healthy.
If we have plans of seeing each other over the course of this weekend, please don't misinterpret my distance and cautiousness with being stand off-ish or "cold". It's critical that I keep myself healthy, and avoid a hospital stay if at all possible. Thanks in advance for understanding. I'm being naughty by venturing out, but it's Christmas! I don't think Dr. Londer would be pleased. I do have a few masks though that he gave me. I'll just need to make sure I have one handy in case there are sick people around me.
Everything went as scheduled this morning. I didn't have a Dr. Londer appointment first because we were just in on Wednesday getting the PET results. When I was in there on Wednesday, he tried convincing me to hold off on getting chemo today until after the holidays, and then coming in on Tuesday. The only problem with that is once I start going in on Tuesdays, then all chemo's after that point would be on Tuesdays which would just jack up my entire work schedule. I'm not supposed to be around people 3-4 days after chemo which would make it so I'd need to finish out the week at home. Fridays are just better days. Then I have the weekend to relax, and I work from home that Monday.
My stomach is not so great right now, but it's nothing like what it was the last chemo round. It's just that terrible acid reflux I'm feeling (or think I'm feeling). My chemo nurse, Amy, seems to think it could have been food poisoning, which would make sense. I ate a tuna salad sandwich from Cub Foods early in the day, and come noon when we were leaving I was feeling terrible, and got sick for a good 6 hours afterwards. After a little Pedialyte, it subsided, and I felt pretty darn good. You'd think if it was the stomach bug, it'd last at least 24 hours. Either way, they bumped up my steroid amount in my IV today (oh joy...not) and gave me some extra anti-nausea meds at the very end to make me sleepy when I got home. I was able to get in a good nap after a had some lunch.
I think it's time to quit yackin', take some Lorazapam, and head to bed but before I do so I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from Josh and I. We love you all dearly, and thank you for your continued support and words of wisdom. Please pray for continued good health for me over this holiday weekend and through the rest of my chemo!! =)
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