11-18-2010 update, 3rd day after 6th chemo

11-18-2010 update, 3rd day after 6th chemo

WARNING: this is a boring post!

Monday I got a neulasta shot. Nurse said it's the same meds as the neupogen except... somehow it's a controlled release, so if your wbcs are ok, nothing happens. But if your wbcs drop, the neulasta kicks in and stimulates your bone marrow to produce wbcs. One shot is effective for 14 days.

Wonder drug, indeed.

With the neupogen, the bone pain was predictable. Although it didn't start until after the second shot (I got a total of 3 shots), it would begin about 3 or 4 hours or so after the injection and peak in 7-10 hrs or so. Tylenol controlled it, no problem.

With neulasta you don't know when it will kick in, or how much will be released, so you can't predict the bone pain.

Anyway, last night I thought it was starting in my lower back (seemed like it was right where they did my bone marrow biopsy, coincidence?) but it never really hung around even long enough for me to take any tylenol. Nurse said I could take a vicodin if need be. And that there would be no problem mixing vicodin with the lorazepam to help me sleep.

Cankles and moon face are in full force from the prednisone (ain't I pretty?). Just a little bit of hiccups the last three days, that indigestion feeling has been more the issue.

And my regularity feels very regular, thankfully.

And usually I would get the bad taste in my mouth when I ate or drank stuff, now I seem to have it all the time, so I've been eating stuff to mute that, and chewing gum. That's the biggest annoyance for me right now.

Boring, boring, boring, run of the mill post chemo stuff.

Tomorrow morning I'll take my last prednisone dose (hoo-effing-ray!). It's all downhill from there.

Another dermatology wart blasting fiesta is on tap for this afternoon.