Pills-Be-Gone

Yesterday, one week after finishing my chemo regimen, I at last could shut down the pill factory. The prednisone I bid a welcome adieu to last week (a bit earlier than scheduled, mainly because the long-drawn-out withdrawal process was too unbearable to stretch out any further), but the rest of the supportive medications I still swallowed on a twice-daily basis. No longer.

My body, she rejoiceth that I'm no longer pumping poisons into her. (I refer more to the chemo than the supportive drugs, although the latter has also affected me adversely, though to a lesser extent.) The disorienting dizziness returned not long after last week's emergency transfusion, but this week, my body's back to producing its own red and white blood cells, platelets, and hemoglobin. It's amazing how much easier it is to climb hills, climb stairs, and even climb out of bed when your heart has some blood to pump.

Ever so slowly, I am starting to regain my sense of taste. Water still tastes funny, but less so; and more of the foods I eat actually taste somewhat like what I remember. It's somewhat like a picture gradually coming into focus, which brings me to another waning side effect: the prednisone did wonders at wrecking my vision, but now that I'm off it, my eyesight's gradually returning to the only slightly myopic.

The nausea's mostly gone (only to return with radiation), but I still don't have much of an appetite. I'm sure that will change once I start working out more - now that my immune system isn't suppressed, I won't be so scared to hit the germ-lurking gym; and it's a lot easier to jog or run instead of walk when your heart and lungs have some function. Hair loss and fatigue will take longer to remediate...probably a month to three months, and the fatigue at least will only increase with the month of radiation treatments. The nurses said it could take up to a year to feel fully free of the symptoms, but I feel a lot better already. Maybe some of it's psychological.

There have been many developments over the past week, which I'll share shortly. I had a PET/CT scan last Friday, just after I met with my radiation doctor. I have another pre-radiation appointment this coming Tuesday, at which I'm hoping to find out the scan results. I also ran a blood test two days ago, the results of which I'll get on Monday - it should show that my body's starting to make its own blood again, unmolested by the chemo drugs at last. And, I got good news from my detailer about job prospects over the next year. More on all of this in the near future...stay tuned.