Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Sandy feels better today. This is Day 6 in Chemo Cycle 3. In cycles 1 and 2, she felt better on day 5, so feeling well a day later than in previous cycles might be an indication of the cumulative effect of either the paclitaxel or carboplatin or both. In any case, she said today that she's making no plans for the week following chemo days 4 (June 4th), 5 (June 25th) and 6 (July 16th).

I asked her today how bad her pain felt to her from chemo day 3 through yesterday. She said that, on a scale of 0 through 10 with 10 being the worst, it was a 9. Even considering this, she was never grouchy or irritable through yesterday. She just didn't get as many things done at home as she would have liked.

She has a tingling sensation in one or two of her fingertips. If cancer patient forums on line are any guide, this is likely the nerves in her fingertips dying, probably from the toxic effects of the chemicals used. These nerves will most likely renew themselves within a year following the end of Sandy's chemotherapy. We were told from the start that this might happen and now it has begun.

Smokey's time in the basement has ended. He howled and howled from down there until we couldn't take it anymore. I had been waiting for his voicebox to give out, but that never happened. Now he's upstairs on the floor on his back, his paws in the air and his tail in a perfect circle, snoring like a fat baby. For both him and Sandy, it's a good day.