A dash of hangover flu

Well, its been 5 days since my first round of chemo. And thankfully, it hasn’t been as bad as I was expecting. Sure, I’m sleeping 10-12 hours a day and I have to eat something small every 2-3 hours or my stomach starts to revolt. But on the laundry list of symptoms I’m tracking for my medical team, the fatigue and nausea is about the worst of it.

Yeah, you read that right, on the advice of the oncology team, I’m tracking my temperature, all of my potential symptoms, the medicines I’m taking, and the food/beverage i’m consuming at eight hour intervals. Its a very different daily use for the graph paper moleskin i use as my work notebook. But its a great way to keep track of what makes me feel okay (eating small meals every few hours, including a bowl of cereal as soon as i get up) and what makes me feel not okay (not drinking enough water, skipping my morning nap, skipping breakfast even when I don’t feel hungry).

Otherwise, I’m trying to heed advice and stay “active” – while I’m not playing lacrosse (duh!), I am trying hard to get 4 miles of walking in a day (about 10K steps for me). And, I’m trying to have a daily dose of friend plans and productive plans – sometimes they’re one and the same, like yesterday when went mattress shopping with my Brother – and sometimes they’re separate like today when I grabbed coffee with my High School Bestie, Sam and then braved the Labor Day sale madness at Michaels to stock up on some cheap, low effort craft-ivities (today’s winners: new calligraphy pens, soft yarn for some soon to be needed hats, and a super cheap wreath for my new front door).

Unfortunately, it feels like I’ve got a day-old hangover, and the dregs of a nasty flu (which is a fine reminder about why I stopped drinking heavily when I turned 30) – and from what I hear, it’s probably going to get worse with more rounds

Fortunately, its manageable (with some extra help from anti-nausea Compazine) – and I’ve almost got my first full week under my belt!