The second chemo treatment, two weeks later went off without
a hitch, and I’ve been lucky that the
usual side-effects haven’t been a problem.
The worst side effect has been
fatigue-but that’s manageable and I’m fortunate in that I’m able to do what I can, then rest when I need
to. Some people, especially those with
children or other family responsibilities don’t have that luxury, and I’m sure
that adds to their stress level.
The woman in the
treatment chair next to mine was having her first chemo treatment. She sat there with tears rolling down her
face. I couldn’t tell whether she was
in pain or scared or what, probably both. The nurses tried to cheer her up, and
her daughter or another relative would come back to the treatment area for a
few minutes, but she would go back to the silent tears as soon as they left. I
asked her if this was her first time and she opened up a little. She told me that her husband had suffered a
stroke last year and wasn’t able to do much for himself and now, in addition to
having to deal with her own cancer diagnosis, not knowing how the treatment was
going to affect her and her ability to care for her husband, she felt quite
overwhelmed. And then she was worried about whether she’s get nausea or be too tired to do anything
and how she could take a shower while
hooked up to the pump at home. My feeling is that sitting in a chair for three or four hours with nothing to do
but watch fluids drip into your veins
gives you too much uninterrupted time to dwell on the negatives, so I decided to keep asking her questions and
answering any she asked me. I was
eventually able to get her onto some other subjects and managed to make her
laugh a few times. My treatment
finished up before hers did; as I was getting hooked up to my pump getting
ready to leave, she thanked me for making her laugh. I haven’t seen her in the treatment room since then, but my
schedule got messed up after that treatment, more about that later. I hope she was able to come to terms with
her situation and get some of her stress and worries relieved.
Speaking of relieving stress, I decided to take up
yoga. My first class was on June
22. It’s quite wonderful, and the
emphasis is on doing what you can do, and what you feel comfortable doing, not
in trying to keep up with what everyone else is doing. Since I’ve been
having a little dizziness when I lie
down or bend over, I did mostly chair yoga, but did manage a warrior pose,
although I did feel like a somewhat wimpy warrior J. The breathing and
relaxing meditation we did at the end of class was SO relaxing that I’m
surprised I didn’t fall out of the chair.
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