BLOOD – Round Two Has Begun

Well.
Blood transfusion last week helped things.
Hemoglobin is still up at a decent level this week.
I had my first decent platelet number on Monday since this whole mess started.
So.
Monday (12/2) I got my first IV infusion of chemo drugs starting Round Two, and restarted the daily chemo pills.
So far my side effects haven’t been terrible but I think that has something to do with a back pain problem that arrived on Saturday night.

Nasty bit of back pain arrived while Lenny and I were minding our own business, just curled up in bed with a book.
It was higher up than my normal low back pain I have had since 1993.
Being higher up it did NOT like it if I took deep breaths and I would get stabbing pain when trying to breathe so things spiralled a bit.
Because of the goal to not take Tylenol or ibuprofen which might mask infection or whatnot I was really struggling.
I iced.
I heated.
I tried muscle relaxers.
I tried bargaining with deities.
At 2:00amish this morning I sent a begging message (with ZERO curse words, super impressed by that) to oncologist office begging for help.
Note that they were aware, I had talked to an on call doctor on Sunday and a PA on Monday and a Nurse on Tuesday and they had all given ideas to try to manage the issue.
Short version, I met with a PA before my IV infusion this morning and she gave me leave to use small doses of ibuprofen and Tylenol AND added a steroid to my things going in via IV today.
I have no words to express how much better IV steroids are over pills.
I feel human again.
It isn’t completely gone but the pain and aches are dramatically reduced.

There we have it.
Round Two is off and running and I have regained the majority of my optimism.
Will see how tonight goes and if I get another 1/2 dose of steroids tomorrow.
Fingers crossed.