Anyone thirsty?

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. Well, I'm going to have buckets to quench the thirst of my entire village several times over given the juicy, yellow fruit that seems to be falling in my life these days.

First things first, everything went okay yesterday. Although my veins went into hiding and it took three, bloody sticks to get the vein threaded and the port-like device into my arm so the nurses could draw blood all day without poking me every time. I was very thankful when the third time finally worked because it hurt like a son of a gun.

During my appointment, Dr. H and I talked about my list of side effects, including a brutal toothache I had for 24 hours (which dissipated mid-morning yesterday). Apparently the most common side effects reported to date have been tiredness (yup!) and flu-like muscle aches (nope).

But, another man, who is on the same schedule as I and was in the clinic yesterday also complained about mouth sores, tooth issues and foot (as opposed to hand) rashes and soreness. So we are seeing some of the same things, and it's different side effects for different folks.

Dr. H seemed to find my complaints about a flattened personality and apathy interesting, and said he'd have to watch how that progresses.

My blood work showed my liver is functioning fine, but my white blood cells, platlets and sodium levels all dropped. My potassium is raised. Go figure. My levels were going to be re-checked during my blood draw today. I'm sure if there's a problem, I'll hear about it.

I asked about whether I should expect the side effects to just continue to get worse over the course of the three-week cycle, get better when I go off the drug for the "vacation" week and then come back during the round. Dr. H said my body may just adjust to some of them, but others may be something we'll need to manage. Only time will tell.

I'm disappointed to say I'm still draining too much ascities to get the pigtail out. Given 250 mL flowed out of the tube on Sunday tells him it's still needed. When my drainage amount gets to 50 mL or less a day, we'll consider its removal. I'm a bit bummed because it continues to mean no hot tub, but sadly I'm getting used to the stupid thing. It's amazing how the body can adapt.

I did get the numb bum and sore muscles from sitting around all day yesterday, but Michael and I managed to watch some episodes of a TV series we enjoy. We went in knowing it was going to be a long day and prepared for it.

But what we weren't prepared for was the chaos and stress awaiting us when we got home. Suffice to say, Noah had some trouble at school and then lied to us about it. It was a very anxiety-causing, argumentative night that sent both Michael and me in a tailspin. We're working through it with both the school and Noah now - and it'll take some time - but it was the last thing we needed after the long, drawn-out day. It exacerbated our worries, concerns and emotions. I couldn't fall asleep last night I was so agitated and have been worrying ever since. And the last thing we need is more worry.

So this situation is another issue we need to deal with right now. Lots of lemons. Hey, let's break out the vodka to mix with that lemonade. It might make things just a bit smoother.

Tina