The Best Medicine

I’ve been neglecting my post as ‘diligent chemo blogger’ for a while. It’s been a busy week. I was hospitalized last Wednesday for my second treatment of the drug Methotrexate. Again, two large black garbage bag looking IV’s were hoisted above my head, to drip down into my blood stream over the course of 24 hours. Again, I was given an inhibitor 48 hours after the beginning of the infusion to start blocking the Methotrexate from killing me. Again, I worked my way through about 2 seasons of 3 sitcoms, not to mention four DVDs. The only difference between this time and last time was a starry-eyed blond bombshell, my friend Katey. Katey brings the best energy into the room with her. You can’t help laughing and having a good time. I’ll admit, I was nervous having Katey come out to visit me. In my current state, I’ve become somewhat anti-social, and I couldn’t imagine talking to one person for five days straight. I knew the second she walked in the door this would not be a problem. We spent our days laughing, making sock puppets and sneaking up to the kitchen for some Earl Gray. Who drinks Earl Gray?

Katey was the boost of energy I needed to get through this second of four hospital visits. I came home from the hospital on Sunday with a few irritating side effects, but nothing too horrific to deal with. Then on Monday night, I had a sudden flare up of what felt like pancreatitis. It really terrified me to even consider the possibility that this nasty pain could be entering back into my life. Erin and James decided to drive me up to the hospital, just to be safe. The doctors monitored me through the night, while Katey stayed stoically by. In the end, no conclusive answers were reached. It was a bit of a fluke, and only lasted five minutes, where my average session usually lasts much longer. I went home Tuesday afternoon once the doctors were convinced that it wouldn’t be coming back immediately. From here at home I can monitor my pain and watch what I eat to see if anything in particular triggers the pain. The last thing I need right now is another few weeks with the feeding tube, so I’m trying to take it easy and just enjoy the holidays with my family. At least this time I’ll be able to eat the turkey! (knock on wood…)