Todd's Journey

Had my pre-chemo blood work today. Most of it looks good, but definitely have lost a pretty large amount of hemoglobin. Red and white blood cells are also down. All this to say that I'll know tomorrow if they will proceed with my chemo on Thursday, or will have to postpone for a bit.

With the decrease in hemoglobin, fatigue has returned, and some weakness in my legs as well. This morning, while trying to get some juice in the kitchen (yes, this was before Jamie woke up) my legs gave way and I ended up on the kitchen floor. Jamie heard me fall, and came quickly to help me get up.

All in all I suspect we will still proceed with chemo, but as my family doctor told me today, with the hemoglobin, red blood cells and white blood cells decreased, this cycle of chemo will most likely be tougher on me for sure. My body is already kind of anemic right now, so the next session of chemo won't make that any better.

As Jamie and I always say though, we have to go through the rough period of chemo to get to the other side of the road. We do what we have to do.

Well, it does seem that as each day goes by after the chemo, they do get a little bit worse than before. The hiccups are significantly a problem for me, as they hardly ever stop. My medical oncology doctor has been told about them as it's possible they may be able to give me some medication to help with it.

Last night I started to get a stiff jaw, and more feeling of chest congestion. This is related to my chemo, and today it seems to have subsided some.

Yesterday the biggest set back for me was hurting my leg again. I had been doing so well with improving the strength and pain issues with my legs, but as I made my way to the washroom yesterday, just as I was getting there, I was feeling quite faint and fell down onto the toilet seat. This cause me to pull the muscle or hit it in the wrong way. So now I am back to being pretty immobile for the next little while.

Hopefully the doctors can get rid of these hiccups and that my leg strength improves.

Setbacks happen. Just have to keep moving forward.