Having cancer has made it very easy to remember my haircuts. There haven't been many over the last two years, and today Kate gave me a trim with the clippers. My hair has been growing well, just not in all areas. The flaky, dry skin on my head hasn't been conducive to growing hair, and I've looked somewhat crazy lately. I had a balding pattern going on with long hairs that refused to do anything but stand straight up on my head. Now it is shorter, not quite bald, and hopefully it will start coming in a little better.
Over the last week it has felt good knowing the tumor has shrunk. I've been feeling pretty good with the prednisone as well until Tuesday night. My mouth became very sensitive to the texture of food, and I've had a flare up of the GVHD in my mouth. The last two days I've had new sores in my mouth, especially on the tongue. This makes eating and talking uncomfortable, which is especially a nuisance with Kate and I's anniversary today and the 4th of July tommorow. A nice dinner to celebrate four years would have been nice, but I think we will put that off until my mouth is ready to enjoy nice food.
Since the prednisone has been improving my symptoms pretty smoothly, the plan was to taper my dosage again. However, the flare up in the mouth led the doctor I saw today to keep me at the levels I am currently on. Its a little disappointing that I've had a bit of a setback with the symptoms, but this is all just part of what I have to deal with. Mouth pain aside, the rest of my symptoms haven't regressed and I am feeling pretty good overall. I'll make the best of this weekend, and I hope everybody else has a great Independence Day weekend as well!
Showing posts with label hair loss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hair loss. Show all posts
Friday, July 3, 2009
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Bone Pain and Oxycodone
MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 2008 08:38 PM, CDT
I just spent a lot of time writing out a journal update to only have it lost. I hate when that happens. Oh well...time to retype my thoughts.
First...thanks to those who have written on my guestbook. I check that periodically and definitely appreciate all of the support and prayers people have sent out.
Today is day 11 in this round of chemo therapy. Last time around I started losing my hair at day 15, so I don't have much time left to enjoy my beautiful head. This time of the cycle is pretty boring. At this point I've started to regain my energy and the frequent and uncomfortable trips to the bathroom have subsided. I take a bunch of pills every day, and give myself a shot of neupogen every night.
Neupogen is a drug that stimulates growth of neutrophils in the bone marrow. Since the chemotherapy can wipe my white blood cell count down to dangerous levels, this drug is important to help my immune system rebound. Giving myself the shot isn't such a bad deal. I just have to inject it into the skin and not the vein, and after a few dozen times it becomes pretty routine.
The drawback of the Neupogen shot is it causes bone pain. The pain is usually a dull pain that is frequently in my shin, thigh, shoulder, or jaw. Unfortunately for me today I had the pain in my lower back where the spine meets the pelvis. Not only was the pain in an uncomfortable place, but it was as sharp as I've ever felt. I spent the early morning shifting positions trying to get comfortable, but nothing seemed to work.
I don't care for drugs and usually try to tough things out. However, I decided to hit up the oxycodone that was prescribed to me. I took one pill in the morning and felt absolutely no effect from it. The pain was still sharp and I couldn't get comfortable to sit or lay down. Around noon when I was ready for another dose I decided to make it a double. That did the trick. I had a pretty good buzz going all afternoon, and while I couldn't sleep it off, I did manage to lay on my back in a semi-conscious daze. Hopefully I'll be able to get to sleep tonight without heading to the medicine cabinet tonight, but I don't think its going to happen. Well...at least everything else seems to be going well. I was able to do some grilling tonight and play baseball with Isaiah. So despite the pain I am getting back to normal a little bit. It will be great if I can stay energized and feeling good for the next week and a half.
I just spent a lot of time writing out a journal update to only have it lost. I hate when that happens. Oh well...time to retype my thoughts.
First...thanks to those who have written on my guestbook. I check that periodically and definitely appreciate all of the support and prayers people have sent out.
Today is day 11 in this round of chemo therapy. Last time around I started losing my hair at day 15, so I don't have much time left to enjoy my beautiful head. This time of the cycle is pretty boring. At this point I've started to regain my energy and the frequent and uncomfortable trips to the bathroom have subsided. I take a bunch of pills every day, and give myself a shot of neupogen every night.
Neupogen is a drug that stimulates growth of neutrophils in the bone marrow. Since the chemotherapy can wipe my white blood cell count down to dangerous levels, this drug is important to help my immune system rebound. Giving myself the shot isn't such a bad deal. I just have to inject it into the skin and not the vein, and after a few dozen times it becomes pretty routine.
The drawback of the Neupogen shot is it causes bone pain. The pain is usually a dull pain that is frequently in my shin, thigh, shoulder, or jaw. Unfortunately for me today I had the pain in my lower back where the spine meets the pelvis. Not only was the pain in an uncomfortable place, but it was as sharp as I've ever felt. I spent the early morning shifting positions trying to get comfortable, but nothing seemed to work.
I don't care for drugs and usually try to tough things out. However, I decided to hit up the oxycodone that was prescribed to me. I took one pill in the morning and felt absolutely no effect from it. The pain was still sharp and I couldn't get comfortable to sit or lay down. Around noon when I was ready for another dose I decided to make it a double. That did the trick. I had a pretty good buzz going all afternoon, and while I couldn't sleep it off, I did manage to lay on my back in a semi-conscious daze. Hopefully I'll be able to get to sleep tonight without heading to the medicine cabinet tonight, but I don't think its going to happen. Well...at least everything else seems to be going well. I was able to do some grilling tonight and play baseball with Isaiah. So despite the pain I am getting back to normal a little bit. It will be great if I can stay energized and feeling good for the next week and a half.
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