Sick

It's hard to know when you have cancer whether a sickness is due to cancer, chemo or some other virus that anyone on the street could have given you. I had one of those situations this weekend.

It started Thursday night at 11:30 when I woke up with a sore stomach. I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but with no luck. I tried Gaviscon. I tried walking the house to get the gas moving and out. Finally at 5 a.m., I threw up. I then slept for a couple of hours before waking up to throw up again. I knew I'd dehydrate myself so I tried drinking water . . . and threw it up.

Friday afternoon, I called the cancer centre for advice, which consisted of drink Gatorade (even if it's a few sips every 15 minutes), make sure I urinate ever 10 hours and the colour isn't too dark., and if it gets worse, to head to Emergency on the weekend.

Saturday morning was good. I managed a piece of toast and a bottle of Gatorade, but the afternoon brought the barrage of vomiting again. I promised myself if Sunday was equally bad, I was heading to Emerg.

But yesterday, I only vomited once so no trip to the hospital for me.

I've surveyed my Facebook friends and some of them said they've had this virus that lasts a couple of days and causes severe vomiting. That makes me feel better because then I know it's something "normal" and not cancer related.

I know my stomach is small because of the ascities building up in my abdomen again, which means I don't have room for anything but small quantities of food or drink. That could add to the number of times I throw up because I just don't have the room to hold anything. And getting calories for energy has become a challenge since staying hydrated and eating require different things. I'm trying to eat toast and drink Boost/Ensure, but even that has been challenging to keep down.

So today I've consumed an Ensure and am working on a Gatorade with hopes they both stay down. And I'm going to have to do something about this damn ascities again soon. Then, just maybe, I'll start to feel better, which is the whole point of my chemo vacation.

*sigh*

Tina