12 February, round #2, 2nd day of chemo


I had a better night’s sleep last night. The vampires (or in this case, a singular vampire, my nurse) appeared shortly after midnight and woke me out of a sound sleep to gently sip my blood. So far, I haven’t experienced any sudden urges to sneak down hallways and steal into other patients’ rooms to exsanguinate anyone. Thankfully! 😆

The day promises to be much as yesterday was, although at least today I don’t seem to be fighting such a heavy wall of sleepiness. I won’t be able to shower because the chemo IV can’t be interrupted but at least Hunter, my PCA, can bring me some heated wipes so I can take a sort of sponge bath. Hey, it’s better than nothing. Also, so far I haven’t experienced anything out of the ordinary with this chemo infusion. I’m slamming water as much as possible to help keep me flushed out and trotting off to the loo every 90 minutes or so with my ball and chain (my IV pole) in tow is a serious pain in the bum. Still, better that than kidney damage, right?

4:55pm and all is well. I just finished my first chemo drug, something called Methotrexate, which was the 22-hour infusion. Now it’s on to Leucovorin, which is considered a “rescue” drug and will help purge my system of the Methotrexate. At the same time, I’ll be starting on the second chemo drug, Cyterabine. My spelling of these drugs may be a bit off but you can get the general idea. This second drug is the one that can cause blurry vision and issues with hand-eye coordination. Oh, and it can also cause rashes on the hands and feet. Weird. Let’s hope that I experience none of these issues!

It’s turned into a beautiful afternoon – clear with just a few whispy clouds floating about, and the late afternoon sun is turning golden. Downtown San Antonio looks great from this view, even though the skyline isn’t as impressive as, say, Austin or Los Angeles. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing it lit up with twinkly lights tonight!

A lighter dinner of a chicken Caesar salad and soup made my tummy happy. I may finish up the film The Irishman tonight but again, maybe not. I’ve reached what I think may be a really intense and potentially bloody scene and I’m sort of dreading it. Despicable as some of the characters are, I’ve grown attached to them and don’t want to see them get offed in some ghastly mobster bloodbath.

This is nuts. I just got broadsided by a wave of the sleepies and I’m still waiting for my nightly meds. I don’t want to snooze just yet because that first wake-up is harsh. ****** Rats. I snoozed and now I’m a mess. Just in time for meds! Wheeee!!! 🤢