The side effects with Taxotere are much worse than the first type of chemo. I eventually swung out of the muscle pain but the rumour is, it will be lingering even after I am finished. Believe it or not, the best remedy was belly dancing. I was stretching and noticed that everything I was doing, reminded me of warming up during my Middle Eastern Dance classes. So I cranked up a little Natacha Atlas and Alabina and did a little shimmey across my kitchen floor. Amazingly, the next day I had less pain and needed less ibuprofen.
The next issue that popped up was the metallic taste in my mouth got worse and I started to get mouth sores. All of a sudden everything I ate had a strange taste and some things even hurt to eat. I had my favorite, Vietnamese for lunch with Meta and I didn't enjoy it at all. Of course it hasn't killed my appetite, I still eat but just look for ways around the problem. The metallic taste makes it difficult to drink water and one of the tricks I use is diluting a little orange juice in a big glass of water. Sarah recommended that I try drinking different types of bottled water and Dasani had a distinct flavor for her during chemo....Really? I have a private well drilled at the farm and drink municipal water that has been treated in Ottawa and can't taste the difference. I highly doubt that I will taste the difference between bottles of water. Tonight I conducted a little experiment and tried Dasani and Pure Life and I actually believe I could taste a difference. Or maybe I am just so desperate to have my taste buds back. Club soda seems to offer the best relief.
My lips are also incredibly dry and swollen. I feel like I spent an evening making out with a brillo pad. Now I know why Vonda gave me so many tubes of chap stick. She is more on the ball than I am with potential side effects.
I finally met one of my Vixens! And I hope to meet more in the future. Sarah, whom I was put in touch with by a former colleague, just finished her chemo, radiation and has a few more Herceptin treatments to go. I took advantage of her treatment and swung by the hospital to meet her in person. She has been fantastic at answering all of my questions. What an amazing woman! She went through this all in 2013 with a great attitude and three young ones to boot!
It felt a little odd being the one sitting in the chair and not in the bed but I will be back on the bed in 2 weeks. So I took advantage of that feeling as well.
Tomorrow is my last day of work for a while. Although I enjoy work and still worry that I will go stir crazy; with these side effects I am now ready to make some time for myself. I am tired and the timing is perfect. Of course I have created about six months worth of projects and have grandiose ideas of skating, snow shoeing and Lord knows what else. But given this past week, that now may be a little too ambitious. But here is the beauty of it: I can just live in the present moment. Aside from my medical appointments, I do not have any deadlines or major commitments. If I need to take a nap, mid day I will and not feel guilty about it. If I want to spend the morning lounging around in my pyjamas, eating ice cream; I'm going to do it. Actually I do have one confession, there were a few mornings spent working and interviewing candidates while I had a mud mask. Masks have been so easy with out having to deal with tying up your hair.
The next few months will be all about "Me." Now don't get me wrong....I am one to treat myself and somewhat take care of myself but it usually is crammed into a time frame of an evening or weekend. This will be two months of relaxing, yoga (I hired a private yoga instructor) doing art, reading, meditation and just learning how to be a better Jenny...for Jenny
Love reading your blog Jenny!
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