Ooooh Pretty Flowers!

Okay...come clean.  Who sent me the beautiful flowers today?  I received them this afternoon and they were a-mazing!  The only thing the card said was "Go Badgers".

Whoever it was, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  It really brightened my day!

I had a bit of a rough night last night, and I'm not gonna lie, I was disappointed.  I had a nagging stomachache, headache, and just could not sleep.  My good friend Lorazepam let me down which was incredibly annoying.  I got up this morning and was not in a good mood.  It took me about a third of the day to snap out of it, and by late afternoon I was feeling pretty good.  We got all of our wrapping done and feel pretty ready for the next couple of days. 

I went in and got my shot of Neulastin this afternoon.  This is a drug specifically designed to increase white blood cell counts, which can often be the toughest battle a chemo patient has in terms of staying healthy through treatment.  If your white blood cell count gets too low, you are extremely susceptible to infection and life would just pretty much suck.  When you have cancer you pretty much battle suckiness on a daily basis so let's not make it worse if we can help it, m'kay? 

What the Neulastin does, if you can visualize this, is to cause your bones to go into overdrive producing white blood cells.  Imagine the marrow of your bones as sort of porous like a sponge.  Much like a sponge, when you add liquid to it, the sponge expands.  So when your marrow is producing more cells, the bone expands and what does that do?  Hurts like a you know what.  Now, I am all about narcotics and whatever pills "make it all go away", but much to my dismay they aren't too generous in that department  at the cancer center.  Nausea?  Anything you need.  Bone aches from the drugs they give you to save your life?  Take some Tylenol.  Yep, Tylenol.  Oh and if you need a chaser, Benadryl.  I think I need to have a conversation with these people.  Can you give me something that will knock me out until next month please?  Thank you!

So, since that's not going to happen, they do recommend of all things Claritin.  Yes, Claritin.  Apparently (who figures this stuff out by the way?) they found that over the counter Claritin given the day before a shot of Neulastin and for four days after, greatly reduces the swelling and pain associated with it.  I guess it's the antihistamine that does the job.  So, I've taken my Claritin religiously and am hopeful that whatever aches I get, if any, are minimal.  Should know in about three days. 

I hope you are all ready and excited for the holiday.  Remember to slow down and enjoy your friends and family.  I insist.