Day + 12: Blah

Today was an off day, in more ways than one. We were able to take a break from the hospital, for at least one day. I wasn't very active today, as I haven't felt good all day -- I had a good bit of "chemo brain", and I'm a little depressed now that my hair is starting to fall out! I'm also getting a little bored of the activities that I am doing (watching TV and playing games, mostly). I'd mix it up a little bit, but I don't have the concentration to do many things at this stage. Hopefully, as the days progress, my head will clear up and I'll be able to enjoy my healing time a little more.

Tomorrow will be a big day at the hospital. There's a good chance that my catheter will be removed, and I may be released. Also, I'll be taking some lipid tests, which requires me to fast tonight. Since I began the treatment, they have removed me from my triglyceride/high cholesterol medications. For some reason that I do not fully understand, it is important to keep the cholesterol high during the first few months after treatment. I'm interested to see how my body has maintained itself since I got off of the medication; my cholesterol was around 600 before I started the treatment.

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Jill from Alabama wrote me yesterday regarding the strategy of using ice chips prior to getting melphalan, in order to protect the inside of your mouth from getting sores from the chemo. As I recall, this is done to lower the temperature of your mouth as the chemo goes through the body. Lower temperatures reduce the effectiveness of the chemo, so if you keep your mouth ice cold, it should be spared from any of its side effects. You start packing ice in your mouth 15 minutes before receiving the chemo, and you continue shoving it in until 15-30 minutes after the chemo is done. It's not pleasant, but the doctors in Boston say that it is very effective in reducing mouth sores. It is important that this strategy hasn't helped everyone -- I've met people who still developed sores, even when taking the ice.