Veins were running away from the IV on Monday, still bruised this morning. I went to the iv specialty area this time to get it started, spent 20 minutes laying down, hyperventilating and almost blacking out when the IV did not want to go in. Next time i will make sure to take something to knock me out (aka xanex). Thank god for ports!!! Unfortunately they cannot use a port for a PET scan, but luckily those don’t happen too often.
PET scan indicated stable disease, which is the same results from my last one. Was really hoping to see a little reduction in size since this was the first full cycle I completed without any cancellations. The 1st cycle had a lot of cancellations due to low white blood cell counts. After a pattern was noticed, Neupogen shots (that I give myself at home) were added to my protocol 3 days following chemo, so the 2nd cycle was a lot more intense. Regardless, stable is good
Side Effects / symptoms :
Neuropathy (can’t feel fingers and toes)
Daily nosebleeds (when I blow my nose)
Body temperature is completely off, waking up several times in the night sweating and drenched and then freezing cold later (annoying)
Skin: major breakouts
Hair: gone
Stomach: behaving at the moment
Hip Pain: about the same -manageable
Congestion/head: sounds like water is trapped in my ear and at times I can’t hear out of my left hear (a problem I have had since radiation to head and neck years ago).

Sounds like a lot, but it’s really not that bad. It could be a lot worse
The hardest part is not being able to get a good night rest and being tired. Thank god I have Garrick (friends and family too)!!!!!