Today is/was my Rest Day before getting my stem cells back tomorrow.
Yesterday, Sunday, was largely uneventful, too. Sunday was my first and only day getting Malphalan (the final "M" in the four-part B-E-A-M chemo combination I've been undergoing).
Both days, everything from my rib cage and "outward" looked and felt really good. Good complexion, good hair, good mood.
But then my innards felt slow, or made of wood, like all the organs of the chest and thorax had been replaced with something inert.
We're up to 4 drugs for managing anti-nausea (successfully), doing tricks like dialing back on Compozine (because it might make my upcoming nadir worse) and introducing a new one (whose name escapes me). And 3 drugs for anti-constipation.
Unlike the way that a fever can be an important part of getting better, or at least an important symptom, there's also no sense that nausea is a necessary or helpful part of chemo: It is solely a bad side effect, and not an indicator of anything or an important path of action, so we have no hestiation going after it when it peeks out in the form of a hiccup or a knot near my belly botton.
Cipro is a broad-spectrum antibiotic (because we're anti-germ). and Ursodiol for protecting my liver.
A READER ASKS: " I do have a silly question: will the scent of creamed corn accompany the injection of your own stem cells... apparently that can be a thing based on how they are preserved or something."
ANSWER: I've been told to prepare for more of a garlic smell, that I will give off as the stem cells are transfused. The DMSO (Dimethyl Sulfoxide) that has been mixed into my donated cells and used to protect my stem cells from the freezing cold, being a sulphur compound, can be stinky.
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