Chemo 3

I HAVE been meaning to post after Monday's 3rd chemo treatment but honestly, it has been a bit of a shitty week. For now, I am ok. But I need to list the things that has been problematic this week – maybe seeing it black on white will help me process it quicker:
tiredness – I was more tired than the 2nd chemo and only managed to come to work today, Friday
appetite – I have hardly had an appetite and am craving only fruit and veg, mainly fresh; with the 1st 2 sessions I had a mighty fine appetite, especially for oven-baked potatoes slices
sore arms – On Monday they used my right arm (for the drip); I am grateful for this as my left arm is really sore, not all the time, but you can feel the pain all along the veins they have used; it's freaking me out a bit at the moment, the whole needle thing...


So although these are physical things I should change my attitude about, I just had a bit of a "down" week. I believe it will change. But for now, I am just feeling a bit sick of everything, the chemo, nauseau, painful veins, people and their pitiful looks in general.


THE GOOD NEWS is that Monday was my 3rd (and last) treatment for Cycle 1. I cannot believe how time has gone by so quickly. So now the options (as per  an email by Irene) are:


OPTION 1
Weekly taxol. You come in every week, have your chemo and go home as usual.  You almost always feel just fine the next day, and the rest of the week. The possible side effects are acute allergy to the stuff (very rare and we all know just what to do), and long term some times tingling and numbness in the tips of toes and fingers (but, with only 9 cycles almost only ever seen in diabetics). Very occasionally you need a blood transfusion.


OPTION 2
Three weekly taxotere – a cousin drug.  Here the advantage is you only come in every 3 weeks (as per Cycle 1), but you have to get  5 daily injections (self administered or given by someone else) after each cycle of chemo. Here you can also get allergic reactions as per the taxol, and can get quite sore muscles, and generally feel a bit flattened.


I need to decide (this weekend) which one I am going for. At this stage, Option 1 seems good to me. I think...