Slow to update

I know my hundreds of followers (well, I know there are three or four of you out there) have been eagerly awaiting news of my first chemotherapy experience yesterday, and the aftermath.

I'm delighted to report that it was all boring, boring, boring. I rather expected that the actual chemo administration wouldn't be very exciting, and was glad to have my friend Pam with me, who's been through it herself. But really, all you do is sit there with an IV running into a vein for a couple of hours. The most unpleasant aspect of  the experience was the TWO big screen televisions. I intensely dislike television and don't know what it says about our society that we expect SOMEone to provide entertainment for us at all times.

But I digress.

The next big worry was how the chemo would make me feel. Nausea is the most common side effect, with gastrointestinal distress, dizziness, general spaciness, extreme fatigue following close behind. The nurses at the chemo center said the effects usually begin within 1 - 3 hours after treatment ends. So when Pam brought me home I took one of the anti-nausea pills and then just sort of sat there and waited. I ate the nice little bag of fruit she'd prepared for me. After a bit I had a small dish of ice cream. After another bit I had multiple handfuls of gluten-free chips. All of these activities, plus pacing, of course, took up a couple of hours and I was still feeling no adverse reactions, except being tired.

So at an entirely unseemly early hour, I simply went to bed, slept for 10 hours, and woke up refreshed and feeling great. I worked on a couple of hats to wear when my hair falls out, and when the weather turned warm and sunny I went outside and worked in the garden for hours. Don't worry, I took plenty of breaks and am now pleasantly tired and will probably be in bed before too long. I do love going to bed early, I have to admit, and now I have a good excuse.

Will my luck hold? I'm going to assume it will, and that the love and caring that surrounds me from all my friends and family will continue to hold me in this healing place.