Monday, August 25, 2008

Halfway there

Can't believe that I'm done with three cycles and that I'm halfway through the entire course. The following three are expected to be less taxing with the change of medicine to be administered. After effects were minimal this round or perhaps my tolerance threshold has been raised.

Life is taking on a greater semblance of normalcy. I did not feel like I was on medical leave in the past 3 weeks. Went to office to tend to some work issues, interview candidates and did midyear reviews with staff. Cannot take a type A woman out of a patient I guess.

Now that diarrhoea is no longer a problem, at least immediately after the chemo shots, I can resume my juice routine. During the time when I was less fibre-tolerant, spray-dried barley green and beet in powder form was a good alternative source of anti-oxidant.

Had my first snow-skin mooncake today and it was bliss to taste it. Sure glad that Christmas is after my course.

Sunnybunny

Sunday, August 3, 2008

The 2nd cycle came and went with less discomfort

The 2nd cycle ended last Saturday with very much reduced discomfort. Besides the expected tiredness on the 3rd and 4th day, nausea and appetite loss were minimal. Looking forward to being up and about soon.

The marvel of modern medicine. I had booster shots to increase my white blood cell (WBC) count and I termed them 'reinforcements' in my previous blog. It's more like the national guards being called in. The blood test report revealed a significant improvement in my WBC from 1.42 to 9.66, a necessary morale-boosting sign to tackle the coming regimes.

The best decision I've made in my preparation was to shave my head. Loss of hair occurring from 2nd week onwards was manageable and I had so much fun trying on combination of wigs and scarves, hats.

The drive to the hospital for jabs is a welcome break from being house-bound. The scenery along the way is refreshing and in some way, comforting to give a 'glad to be alive' feeling.

Starting too to work longer hours from home in between rest and relaxation before Korean soap operas. Don't know how long I can last viewing such drama before boredom sets in given the typical 'Pride n Prejudice', 'My fair lady' or 'Pretty Woman' story-lines.

sunnybunny