Hallelujah​! Day 5 arrived!

Yesterday was amazing.

Background: My sister-in-law’s friend has been sharing with me her own journey with cancer. It has been so very helpful. One of the things she said was that my energy would return after chemo on Day 5 or Day 6. She described it as waking up on a clear morning after a storm. She was right.

Day 5:  My energy was back. Woohoo! I didn’t even realize how incredibly the chemo had sapped my energy. But the contrast was dramatic for me yesterday. I found myself thinking throughout the day that it felt like I had a couple of 4 shot espressos in me but I actually didn’t have any caffeine coursing through my veins.

My side effects continue to be minimal. I have one small sore in my mouth but there’s salt water rinse for that. Heartburn is another issue now. But that is actually a good thing because it means the rapidly dividing cells in my stomach lining are dying; the chemo is working. The other side effect is just no appetite or food not “sounding” good. I’m not suppose to lose weight as my meds are calculated on my starting weight. They don’t want to reduce the amount of meds if I shed pounds. My job now is to eat even when food doesn’t taste good and I’m not hungry. Weird huh? I’m told that if I lose too much weight, they have ways of making me eat. :-)

The next phase of chemo’s effects on my body is the Nadir period. This is the point where my blood counts will be the lowest and risk of infection high. I’ve asked Marc to lead me in this because my rebellious nature and my vanity will say, oh, it’s ok, I can be around people. I won’t get sick. This could be a place of conflict for us as he tries to lead and I resist. Pray for us. Our first test in this will be this weekend. Sarah, our daughter, is running her first marathon in Portland. It is a chance for us to be with our son and other friends who are also participating. Wearing a mask to protect me from infection or staying out of crowds will be hard for me.

Marc and I cannot thank you all enough for sharing this journey with us.

Grace to you,

jane & marc