When I last posted, it was the day after round one of chemo. Everything sucked, but it was a marginally bearable amount of suck. Unfortunately, it didn't last.

The damn Nulasta shot from last Friday works by sending the active bones into overdrive, so they create more white blood cells to replace the ones killed off by chemo. While perfectly fine in theory, some people experience severe bone pain around 12-16 hours after the shot. And by some people, I mean me.

My bone pain was worst in my femurs, though it made itself known in my pelvis, sternum, and neck as well. Sometimes my the back of my head would get bored and join in the fun, but that may have just been a side effect of something else.

Just in case things weren't bad enough with the residual steroids and severe bone pain, Saturday morning was also time for the chemo drugs to start adversely affecting me! Even with all the anti-nausea meds, I couldn't eat. I couldn't drink. The few times something purporting to be edible got near my tastebuds, it tasted wrong and awful. Sitting up was not an option. Just getting to the bathroom practically required someone carrying me, yet it still used up any energy I might have had. Talking was a waste of energy, so I didn't bother unless I really needed something. Even changing the channel when something stupid came on wasn't worth moving. It was that bad.

Per Dr. Oncologist's instructions, Matt rotated me through all the boring over the counter pain relievers. Nothing worked, so I was bumped up to the percoset left over from my surgery. That got rid of the bone pain, but it also made the fireplace attack me. Or at least that's what I thought was happening, despite Matt's assurances that the fireplace was resolute in it's inanimateness. Unfortunately, I had similar problems with a watering can and plant in the bedroom. In my defense, the watering can is shaped like an elephant and has googly eyes.

Apparently Matt didn't think hallucinations were a good thing, so he called the doctor on Monday morning. She called in a prescription for Tylenol with codine, which wasn't perfect, but did a decent job of alleviating the pain without any fireplace attacks. Sadly, it did nothing for the intense nausea, complete lack of energy, or aversion to food and water.

Typing is zapping away all my energy, so you'll have to wait to find out what excitement occurred later that day. Here's a clue: As of right now, I still have my hair, so it didn't all suddenly fall out on Monday afternoon.