Early start

My computer boots up a little earlier in the Bratscher household on this Sunday morning. There are probably a couple of reasons for that.

I'm still taking dexamethasone, that anti-nausea, steroid drug. While it does crazy things to my body - like preventing sleep and intensifying bad moods - it's a necessary part of my cancer treatment.

According to Wikipedia, dexamaethasone augments the ondansetron to prevent the nausea and vomiting chemotherapy can cause. It also acts as an anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant. Its potency is about 20-30 times that of the naturally occurring hormone hydrocortisone and 4-5 times of prednisone.

Yet, the two drugs didn't quite do the job, because at 1:30 a.m. I awoke feeling like I was going to vomit. Not good. I got up and took a prochlorazine, the little orange pills my doc prescribes for breakthrough nausea, and chewed a Gaviscon to prevent the feeling of acid and nausea crawling up my throat.

Luckily, after my middle-of-the-night pill raid, I was able to go back to sleep.

But shortly after four, I woke for the second time. Of course, I had to hit the bathroom again. My body is still trying to expel the abundance of fluids pushed into it via I.V. But after the noctural voiding, I lay in bed, listening to Michael breathing beside me, remembering the strange dreams I had and trying to ignore the oh-so-loud crickets.

I tried returning to the land of slumber for about an hour, with no luck. It was then that I realized I didn't take my lorazepam before bed last night. That's probably the reason for my restless night, strange dreams and inability to return to sleep. I hate it when that happens. In retrospect, I slept better than I would have thought considering the dexamethasone and absence of lorazepam.

So I decided to arise, brew some tea and have a little snack. And of course, get an early jump on my blog.

I'm not sure exactly what the day will bring. I anticipate my feelings of well-being will start to head downhill later. But for now, I feel good. I do suspect I'll try to squeeze in a nap later though to make up for my early morning. Sounds like a plan.

Tina