Some Bumps in the Road

Hello everyone!
Well, I should have known it couldn't last....I have been cruising through 13 weeks of chemo and last week (week #14), I hit a snag in the road. It was the first time that my red blood count was too low to get chemo. What does this mean? It means that I was anemic and that my energy should have been low. The crazy thing about it was that I worked all day at school until noon and felt fine, so when my doctor said, "No chemo for you today; you're going to get a blood transfusion, and come back tomorrow to see if it worked," the news threw me for a loop.

Transfusions are no joke. I had to go to the hospital, get my blood matched, which took close to 2 hours because apparently I have a complex blood type, and then another 3 hours to go through the transfusion process. I left the hospital at 8pm with my trusty driver, Hans, and then went home to write sub plans for school the next day.

But hallelujah, it worked! Here I am getting my chemo 14. Not my favorite way to spend a day, but I'll take it because I don't want to get off schedule and lose any chemo time.

I hope you never have to go through this, but they do try to make you as comfortable as possible. You can see that I'm in a recliner (heated) with warm blankets. The chemo machine has a bunch of tubes coming out of it because they are giving medicines to avoid nausea, medicines to avoid acid reflux, medicines so that my body doesn't have an allergic reaction, the chemo itself, and so on....It looks like I am being prayerful, (and I am), but what I'm doing is holding a cold pack in my hands to freeze my nerve endings so the Taxol doesn't reach them and give me neuropathy. I also have cold packs put into socks so my feet aren't damaged either. So far, so good! But let me tell you....those cold packs are torture when the high is 10 degrees outside! Ah, Minnesota.

Today, I should have had my 3rd double dose of Carbo & Taxol, but when my bloodwork came back, this time my white blood counts were too low. I'll admit that I cried, which I haven't done for awhile, but it's just so frustrating! So, I have to go back tomorrow and hope that it is up high enough. If not, my doctor will give me a shot to boost it over the weekend, so I can get chemo next week.

I feel pretty powerless. Is there something I can eat? drink? do? to help my blood counts? I'll eat seaweed or kale if I have to, but the doctors and nurses tell me: "Besides rest, not really; it's just what the chemo does."

I have 20 weeks of chemo total, and I really hope the rest is not as crazy as these two weeks have been. Say lots of prayers!

Love and light,
Jennifer