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Cycle 2 Part A Complete

I'm halfway through my induction phase of chemo now. I have one more part A and two more part B treatments, and then I'll have surgery followed by more chemo. This past treatment was a little more difficult than I expected as far as side effects go, but it's manageable. My treatment lasted a few hours, and I didn't feel a thing much like my other days of treatment. The one big difference between the A treatments and the B treatments is in the side effects. The B treatment makes me feel really tired and foggy, but doesn't cause too much nausea. The A treatment makes me feel really nauseated, changes the taste of food, gives me mouth sores, and makes me moderately tired. I don't feel too tired today, but I slept like all day yesterday, and for a few hours on Tuesday. The nausea/mouth sores/taste change is a big killer for me. The combination of the three makes eating not fun at all, but I have been pushing through it. Hopefully the taste change goes away because the nausea is manageable with my meds, and the mouth sores aren't too bad right now. The weird taste is more noticeable in liquids especially water. I don't notice a difference in taste with milk so that's all I have consumed the past few days as far as liquids go. The mouth sores are right under my tongue like last time, so unfortunately they weren't caused by the potassium pills like we thought. My gums aren't sore like last time, but that could change. Even though the A treatment is only for one day, the B treatment is easier to me which I didn't expect going into this.


The "Red Devil"
Another thing that I dislike about the A treatment is the amount of pills I have to take after treatment. For the three days after treatment I have to take like 15 pills a day ugh! Then, it drops to just 6 like the B treatment. The pill I really don't like is the Decadron. It is one of the pills I have to take for the three days following the treatment. It works very well as far as swelling and reducing the size of Jimmy, but I don't like the way it affects my thoughts, and dreams. For example, yesterday I woke up from one of my naps, and I felt like none of the treatment was working, and that I would ultimately lose my arm because of this. These thoughts were completely irrational, but also completely horrifying to me at that time. I know that I shouldn't think that way especially since the treatments are obviously working, but the Decadron makes these thoughts pop into my head. I didn't have any problems last nights because I took the pills at 6 and waited until 8:30-9 to go to sleep giving my body enough time to break down the drugs and prevent the nightmares. 
Now with all of my ranting about the side affects of the drugs I'm taking there is one important thing that sometimes I seem to forget....These drugs are also saving my life, and as much as I hate them I need to respect them. There will be many bad days, but also many good days during this long game. And in the end the score will be in my favor...

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