01 June 2016

Back to the Grindstone

My happy month away from chemo ended yesterday, Tuesday, as I started in on my second two-month round of treatment. The month off (after the initial two months treatment) was wonderful. My energy returned, my taste mostly returned (except sugar still tastes icky), I lost all of the water I retained (24 pounds of it!) and, best news of all, my blood numbers remained good despite not having treatment for an entire month! All of this bodes well for the future.

But it's not all bunnies and ducks. The water weight somehow damaged nerves in my feet (all the swelling pressing on them, apparently) so I now have painful shots of nerve pain randomly in both feet. This is especially annoying at night when I'm trying to sleep. A shot of pain wakes me up and it goes on like that all night. I have to stay vigilant of any water weight to make sure it doesn't happen again. I've got that new diuretic which has been doing really well for me. I can up the dose if necessary to make sure the bloating stays down. And then, I expect the crippling fatigue to return like last time. That is really bad. Not having any energy at all to do even basic household chores.

Even though, overall, I'm doing well and feeling optimistic, there is the overarching reality that myeloma is not curable. I will never be "cancer free," and I will need treatment (off and on) the rest of my life. Sigh!

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