Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Week three and, finally, a run!

I had my third chemo infusion on Monday (1/27/14). Since my digestive tract was such a mess last week, I decided to try to not use any nausea medication that I had at home. I have been eating some ginger chews that I got for one of my ultramarathons, and they help but they aren't quite as helpful as the prescription medications. I woke up at around 1 am on Tuesday and was feeling pretty queasy. I was queasy all day yesterday and then again this morning after awakening at 3 am. My fatigue has increased noticeably. Peyton reminded me this morning that the nurse had said to expect increased side effects between days 15 and 20. I looked at the calendar and, sure enough, yesterday was day 15. So I guess I am right on schedule there. 
   The only thing I can compare the side effects to right now is pregnancy. I keep thinking that I feel vaguely like I did when I was pregnant: nauseous, tired, digestive problems, etc. Is it wrong that I keep thinking, "thank goodness I just have chemo side effects and I am not pregnant!"? Love my kids, but I am enjoying them at their current ages and stages, and I am too tired to start all over again :) 
    The past couple of days, I was stuck doing this, because running was too painful. The stair master is a device of torture, but it really gets my heart rate up and gives me a heck of a good workout. When I cannot run, this is a good substitute.


The exciting news is, for the first time in over a week, I got a real run in today. Yes, I still had to stop to go to the bathroom about every 1.5 miles, but at least I actually RAN in between my bathroom stops. Hallelujah! 
     I have always subscribed to the theory that when I am running socially with a partner or a group, the right thing to do is to go at the pace of the slowest runner. The sad thing is, right now, *I* am the slowest runner. I am really thankful that I have friends who have been willing to slow down for me. I am slow and stop to go to the bathroom a lot, but hopefully I still provide entertaining conversation.
    What seemed so easy to me before is very, very tiring. But, continuing to exercise through my chemo is very important and I plan on doing whatever I can through my treatment. Slow or not, I am ecstatic when I can get out and run these days!
    I am still trying to figure out how to manage side effects. By dinner time, I am completely exhausted and just want to sleep. I am not sure if it is better to take the nausea meds or not, because the combination of all of the meds seems to do unpleasant things to my system, but feeling like puking all day is not particularly fun, either. Maybe by the time July rolls and, I will have this all figured out. Or maybe not. Either way, I ran today and that makes me happy!

2 comments:

  1. The run is your reward! Nice work! On the GI trouble... maybe Pedialyte? It would at least keep the electrolytes where they need to be. I drank gallons of it at my second 100 and it helped. Either way, your doing great. Keep it up!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hope you are recovering this week and able to enjoy running. Thinking of you every day Tonia.

    ReplyDelete