I get Taxol today.  It’s made from Yew trees so it’s natural, right?  Ha!  Natural.  Lot’s of poison comes from nature.  But I will try to think fondly of Yew trees.  They may save my life.

Pretty eh?  Peaceful.  Lifesaving tree.  Mr. T may hate trees but i do not.  No sir.

I had to take 5 steroid pills at once last night.  I have been stressing about it for weeks.  Sheesh. 1 steroid pill 2X’s a day turns me beet red.  What the heck was going to happen?

Turns out nothing.

I did what my doctor told me and took an Ativan with the 5 FIVE steroids and I watched tv.  And then an hour later, I took another Ativan as prescribed and then I slept 5 hours.  And now I am getting ready to go.  I have ice packs to put on my hands and feet to try to protect them from neuropathy (tingling and numbness).  I have all kinds of medication and alternative stuff like vitamin B’s and L-glutamine which is also supposed to help with neuropathy.

I had blood work done yesterday and I got the results last night.  My blood is all kinds of messed up but apparently still good enough to get chemo.  Surprisingly for the first time, my blood sugar is elevated, which I find disturbing.  Never in my life have i had elevated blood sugars.  Oh yeah, and I havesome”ToxicGran” white cells which if Dr. Google is right explains why I am so achey and why it feels like every tissue in my body is inflamed.  But I will defer to my Dr. on all this.  She went to Harvard and she’s been in this biz for thirty years.  I trust her expertise.

I am getting “dense dose” Taxol.  It will be 4X’s every 2 weeks.  I asked my Dr. yesterday about people who get weekly Taxol because i heard the side effects are less with the lower dose.  She told me that if I did it weekly, it would be for 12 weeks.

What would you do?

4x’s over 8 weeks or 12x’s every week.

I’m sticking with dose dense for now.  I want to get this part over with.  4x’s over 8 weeks is the plan.

I hate all this.

When I feel sick IRL, I take vitamins.  I usually feel better.  I can’t do that now.  No multivitamin, certainly no Emergen-c.  Only approved vitamins.  No Antioxidants during chemo.  It defeats the purpose.  Isn’t that crazy?

Yesterday, between getting blood work and seeing my Oncologist, I walked over to a mall.  Very proud of myself for making it there and back without falling over.  Got a blister on the bottom of my foot from my flip-flop though.  Anyway,  There was a sale.  I got two cute skirts.  Size L.  Because of the steroids, I have now gained 10 pounds since beginning chemo.  I weigh more than I ever have besides when I was pregnant.  I don’t really care. Yes I do.  I’m bald.  Why shouldn’t I be chubby too.  I am channeling Molly Weasley and she is a bad ass.

So I bought 2 skirts.  I was wearing my curly short wiglet with a cute hat.  I am all about the cute hat.  The lady checking me out asked for my driver’s license and commented, “Nice hair” ( from my picture: curly, long, dark…awesome).  I thanked her.  Then I leaned in and said, “I’m actually bald right now.” and I smiled.  She looked at me and said she would have never guessed.  She got a little teary.

“Oh no. Did I bum you out?” I asked.

“No,” she said, “Thank you so much for sharing that with me.”

And we smiled at each other.

Some people hide it all.  I can’t.  I never could hide who I am.  It’s just not me.

Wish me luck today.  I am expecting to be achey by Thursday.  Some people have described Taxol pain as “bone crushing’. I gotta stay off the internet, people.  Somebody stop me.

Ok, here goes nothing.