Drugs:

• Prevacid
• Decadron
• Emend for nausea
• Zofran for nausea
• Lasix (diuretic)
• Tylenol
• Saline drip
• Etoposide and Cisplatin chemo
• Benadryl (to help sleep)

Nurse: Meg

Gained another 5 lbs overnight. They gave me a diuretic called Lasix in my IV, which caused me to urinate profusely every 15 minutes for about an hour. That definitely helped.

Had a mild headache, probably from waking up at 4:30 in the morning. Nothing some Tylenol couldn’t fix.

Two pieces of unrelated bad news from today: First, we sprung a leak in the kitchen ceiling, from either the shower or toilet (or both?) above. Awesome. Our contractor, Leigh, is on it. Second, my favorite moccasin store on Roosevelt Rd is closing! NOOOOOO! Must get moccasins while I still can!

Anyway, back to treatment. My friend, Cat, stopped by for a visit in the afternoon. It’s been a few years since we’ve caught up, so that was nice. If there’s anything positive about this disease, it’s that people are very willing to let you know they care about you. That’s a good feeling whether you’re sick or not, so definitely something to remember.

One thing I started to notice after I got home is my brain is super fuzzy. I apologize if the quality of writing is starting to go down a bit, but it’s just hard to focus. It’s actually even getting harder for my eyes to focus. Fortunately, by the evening I had a bit more energy and was able to fly Teddy around like Superman for a bit before bedtime.

Speaking of Teddy, he’s acting out a little bit lately. He doesn’t seem to know anything’s wrong, but maybe subconsciously he knows something’s up. I told him he could ask me any questions he wanted, and he didn’t have any. A few minutes later he told Jenna that he had a question for me. “There’s a scary guy and he pooped on me.” Ok then.

On the topic of Jenna, I feel I need to give her some props, both because I love her very much, and also because she’s feeling a little nervous that I’m surrounded by almost exclusively blond nurses all day every day. She’s been doing an amazing job balancing caring for me, caring for the kids, keeping up the schedule, and squeezing in all the work she can at all hours of the night. It hasn’t been easy, and I really appreciate it. I’m sure it’s going to get harder before it gets easier, so I hope she’s got the stamina for it. Oh, and I’m sure she’d want me to mention the dessert sampler plate she made me last night. Little bite size pieces of carrot cake, cheesecake, apple pie, lemon bar, and a cookie, because I couldn’t decide on one that I wanted. That’s love right there.

Pain/Side Effects on a Scale of 0 to Mel Gibson’s Final Scene in “Braveheart”:

Day 3 gets a 2. Less energy today, but I’m still kicking ass.

On to Day 4, and then the weekend. Go Cubbies!