Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Radiation Day Two

Curled up on the couch and snoozing just like this puppy - that was me last night. The only reason it's not me tonight is due to sheer stubbornness. I didn't think the radiation would make me so tired, at least not this soon. And I'm still not convinced that's what did it.  Yesterday I blamed it on the time change.  Today's fatigue could also be related to that.

Last night I was so tired, I never made it off the couch until the coffee pot turned on this morning.

After just two days of radiation, I shouldn't be having any side effects -right?  But the fatigue is not the only strange thing I'm feeling.  In addition to being just flat out exhausted by 5:00 p.m. the last two days, I now find myself freezing several times during the day. I mentioned that I'm cold natured.  Spring in Colorado can be chilling. But this is a strange chilliness. I feel cold from the inside out - if that makes sense. I'm not really sure how to explain it - except that when I get these chilly spells, I find myself wishing for a hot flash.  


Still, I wouldn't classify the fatigue as severe. That's one of the questions they asked me this morning - is the fatigue sever or mild?  Every week on Tuesday, after my radiation treatment (by the way I counted this morning - each blast takes between 17 - 20 seconds) I will get weighed, interviewed by a nurse and seen briefly by the doctor.  It's comforting knowing they will be monitoring me so closely.

One thing that is not comforting is that I have to get poked yet again.  They want to do a blood test this week so they can monitor my white blood count - again monitoring my white blood count was something I only associated with chemo. So this comes as another surprise. I didn't think to ask if this means they will be taking my blood every week.  (I swear sometimes I think doctors/nurses are really vampires in disguise.  A vampire bite might be less painful. After all, don't they have some natural pain killer enzyme that oozes out with the bite?)

On the bright side, Spring Break starts on Friday. And even though I won't be able to sleep in due to the early morning radiation treatments, I can at least take a nap.

2 comments:

  1. I passes out at five on Monday night too and was tired all day Tuesday, you can definitely chalk that up to the time change. I am appreciative that although I had to get poked twice this week, they were able to take nine vials from one needle yesterday! Old Irish blessing: I hope the pokes are few and far between, spring comes quickly and the fatigue is no more than normal ;)

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  2. Whoops, that should say "passed"

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