Chemo Cycle 1 Days 3-5

Day 3, like days 1-2, was mild. I had a couple of headaches, some tingling, bursts of energy. My mom was amazed how much I was able to do. We even went for a two mile walk with our neighbor and my son. I was super alert. On the surface one could not tell I was a chemo-cancer-fighting woman. It was also the last day of my steroids.


my son finding a new friend on hike of day 3:

my mom and my neighbor who are now inseparable best friends:

me and my neighbor during walk of day 3:

Chemo bigger attack hit on day 4 for me. My mom said I looked like I had cancer -- whatever that looked like. I was a combination of things I've felt before but then again have never felt before. I was fatigued, tired, energyless --- and yet I was not all these things. There must be a word in our dictionary that means all these things and yet doesn't mean all these things because that was me. If you were a fly on my wall, I'd be the woman sitting on the couch staring off into space yet my mind was still pretty active. I took long naps, had less of an appetite had some nausea ... and then I was back to myself.

In theory, one of the two chemo drugs -- ct -- hits roughly day 4-5. Like clockwork, that pirate ship landed at its destined time and place and spent some energy but overall the battle was short-lived. My next chemo drug -- taxotere -- apparently hits hardest at day 10. I'll be waiting -- then again, not. I'll be living and doing what I can until then.

One of the funnest things that happened over these past days was my Ragnar team training run that started at our home on day 5 of my chemo cycle (I love watching my teammates excitement; I got to walk a mile of the second run :)). Once a month, a bunch of crazy teammates gather for a series of three runs within a 24 hour period in order to simulate the actual race we train for called "Ragnar Relays". In that race, 12 people in two vans travel a distance of 200 miles by following its teammates who run 3 times in 24 hours. I'm an addicted teammate. I was scheduled to run 3 Ragnar Relays this year; I gave up my first race of the year -- April 20, 2013 -- after I learned I had to go through chemo. Though my doctor said it would be ok to run it if I were in the third week of my chemo cycle, for this particular date I would be in my first week of cycle 2. Not the best time. So, instead, I'll be whole-heartedly cheering on my teammates who are all now such close friends. My hubby is also a teammate :)

In my next post I'll share my hair stage 2 experience in which I cut my hair to my husband's length.

Thank you for keeping me in prayers and thoughts!

Midnight Run for Ragnar Teammates, Liz chemo cycle 1 day 5 (they ran 4 miles at midnight while I cheered!):

Ragnar team run 8 hours later (8am, Liz Chemo cycle 1 day 5). 

My son ran 1 mile with daddy while I walked that mile then hubby continued with teammates)