The test for which there is no study

I went in to the Cancer Center yesterday for a shot of Neupagen to boost my blood counts. The shot itself hurt more than the Neulasta does. Stung like crazy going in and they administer it so slowly that you just have to grit your teeth for a full minute til it is over. My arm was sore for a good bit of the day afterwards. I felt a bit queasy for most of the day, but the bone pain didn't hit me till after 7:00 in the evening. I was relieved to feel that pain, oddly, because to me it meant that the shot was working on raising my blood counts and I really didn't want to put of chemo any longer. I took a Darvocet for the pain and was able to sleep pretty well through the night.

This morning my Mom came and took me to get my blood drawn again in hopes that my counts had risen enough. And we got the good news this afternoon that I passed the test and am scheduled for chemo at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow. Yay! Yippee! Three cheers for chemo!

Can't believe I am so happy to be getting chemo. But I just want to get through this and not wait and wait anymore. My body is really tired and still sore from the Neupagen. But nevertheless, I feel ready for another round.

Mom and I went to my family doc today to catch up with her on all my cancer treatments and news. I was really pleased to find out that the Cancer Center has been sending her regular updates on me. She sat with us for a good half hour and talked and gave me a refill of Darvocet so I don't have to bother with that tomorrow and I am just about out. And since I am going back on the bone-pain-marathon Neulasta shot I am going to need it.

We also visited the new nail salon around the corner from my house. Diamond nails is new and clean and the ladies were friendly and did a nice job. They also spoke very good English and were so nice and responsive to how I need my feet taken care of. I can't have them chopping away on my toenails. Infection and all that. I was so pleased to see them getting their tools from sterile packages even. I know my Mom liked that.

Tomorrow, Tonya is going to watch the boy while Mom and I head to chemo. They are bringing a meatloaf and cupcakes for lunch so that I go in on a full stomach again. That seemed to help last time and I have hopes it will help again.

We are also going to try a new nausea drug this time. It actually isn't available in the States, but can be faked by taking half of a Unisom tablet (not gelcap as the drug is different)and a vitamin B6 tablet. This is all over the Internet as providing good relief for pregnant women with nausea. And Dr. George gave us the go ahead to try it. So hopefully it will help. Phenergan obviously does nothing but give me the shakes, so no more of that. He said that unfortunately, I fall into the risk category for unrelieved nausea - young, white, female. That sounds odd to me that white girls get more chemo nausea than other groups, but since I can't seem to control my nausea, it makes sense.

So everyone, send good thoughts my way tomorrow afternoon and evening and I will post an update as soon as I can.