Round 3 - A week later

My fatigue and nausea ended up being a bit worse after round 3 than after round 2.  But, it didn't take long after my Saturday discharge for things to start to improve.

I did my normal IV hydration visits on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday last week.  On Monday, my weight was low and I felt tired.  They gave me some extra fluid because of the low weight.  Tuesday morning, I felt a lot better and managed to walk 2.5 miles on the treadmill.

Then, more saline, and I walked 3.0 miles on Wednesday.  The nausea was dissipating quickly as well.  By Friday, other than some bone pain from the Neulasta, I was feeling pretty normal.

Saturday, I taught skiing, and for the first time all year, I skied all day.  I was tired at the end of the day, but I made it through just fine.  We even had some funky new wet snow that made the skiing challenging, and I felt good in those mixed conditions.  Certainly, the fact that I'm skiing 35 pounds lighter than last year helps, but I've been pretty happy with my skiing recently.

Sunday morning, I went out with a new instructor to help with an issue with one student.  Regretfully, that student didn't show up, but I still think I was able to help her out.  She is a very good skier with a great personality for the job, and I was just trying to offer some tips to overcome some obstacles she has faced so far this year.  I love teaching, whether I'm helping a ski school student or another coach, and this was a satisfying morning.  I was tired from the day before, so I only worked half a day and then headed home to take a nap.

When I woke up from my nap, the bone pain was pretty intense.  Luckily, I have pain medication for precisely that problem, and I used it yesterday, overnight and again this morning.  The pain was more intense than the last time around, but the pain medication did its job and I'm feeling OK.

At lunchtime today, I made a second trip the medical MJ dispensary.  After my first trip, I found that some of the products I'd purchased helped a lot, while other weren't as good.  I had two primary goals for the medical MJ.  The first was relief from the nausea and the second was relief from the never-ending anxiety that goes along with a diagnosis like I have.

I have found that when I'm in the hospital, getting the chemo, the medical weed doesn't really help with the nausea.  It's pretty bad, and the pharmaceuticals seem to do a better job.  After I'm out of the hospital, as the nausea lessens, the medical MJ works better for nausea.

It definitely helps with the anxiety though, and that is nice.  It's amazing to eat 1/4 of  a small brownie and have the anxiety simply disappear for a few hours.  At the dispensary today, I told the people there that one medication isn't my favorite because it doesn't seem strong enough.  They offered me a lollipop that has 4x the normal dose as an alternative.  I asked if I could just use what I have and try a double-dose first, rather than jumping straight to 4x.  They said that made sense.

This is really nothing like those days many years ago in college, where the goal was to get as stoned as possible.  I'm looking for something that leaves me lucid, but reduces the other symptoms I'm having.  So far, it's been a mixed bag, but I'm slowly figuring out what works best.  Today's purchase was a couple new items plus more of the things that have worked in the past.  To be honest, I'm just glad that VT has this option.  I know that patients in many states don't have this option.  Overall, there have been no negatives, and some things have helped a lot.  It's not necessarily cheaper than the pharmaceuticals, but it's a good alternative at times.

Tonight, I'll be back at CrossFit, trying to get in as many workouts as possible between today and next Wednesday morning, when I start my final round of chemo.