Fatigue and Nausea

My radiation treatments for the cancer on my spine ended on Tuesday. Yea! The radiologists gave me a cake with a candle for my final day. All together I had 14 treatments. Talking with the doctor, the peak of the pain relief should come in 2 weeks. The nausea should peak in 2 weeks also. They said the fatigue should last 4 – 6 weeks. I have been having a lot of nausea and fatigue this week. I will have a follow-up MRI in 6 weeks to take a look at that area of the spine. In the meantime, I need to avoid falling as that is a weakened area of my spine. Luckily we haven’t had much snow and ice this winter.

I had chemotherapy on Tuesday with a reduced dose, so my blood counts shouldn’t go too low. They will check them this Tuesday when I get chemo again. I should have the week of March 10th off from chemo. The doctor wants to do 2 weeks of chemotherapy with a week off at the reduced dosage and see how things go for a couple of cycles. I should have a PET scan the week of March 10th or early the following week to see how the spot in my liver and fluid in my lungs and pelvis are doing. Dr. Marschke said he expects everything to have improved like my bile duct tumors have. He said that with this treatment either everything gets better or everything gets worse. It’s unlikely that some things would be better and others worse.

On Friday, I had a wonderful experience. A friend of mine has been certified in massage therapy, so Kelly and I had massages on Friday. It was relaxing and restful.

Kelly is signing up to take the Certified Nurses Aid classes starting March 16th. She will be doing the class for 3 weeks from 8:00am – 5:00pm. This will help move her toward her dream of going to medical school to become a neurologist. I am going to need some rides to chemo or hydration, so don’t ignore me when you see my name pop up on the caller id. ☺

We will be doing prayer circle again on Monday, March 2nd at 6:30 at my house. We will be having a celebration of healing. We will do communion and prayer along with some little treats.

The picture is of me and my 2 cats. Kira is the Siamese and is 5 years old. Scotty is the striped kitten and is 7 months old. Oh, and that’s my new La-Z-Boy chair we’re sitting in. It’s SOOO comfy!