Bone pain, thinly sliced apples and walks around the hood

Friday’s chemo infusion was a breeze and Saturday felt great, BUT the honeymoon is over and the chemo (or Neulasta) Mack truck hit me hard on Sunday! Extreme bone pain that starts in my head, down through my jaw and neck and radiates out through my extremities. My upper arms and legs are especially on fire. I tried cleaning my closet which helped keep my mind off the pain for a few hours but the intensity continued to increase so there was little relief. I’ve been switching between Advil and Tylenol (in addition to daily Claritin which for some reason helps) and trying to combine intervals of rest and being active (taking 20 min slow walks around the block). To help you visualize… picture me and Chris walking:

Chris: super fit and alert in his Lululemon casual wear, air pods in ears, talking on work calls and to me non-stop…

Me: no make up, grey hair (I shouldn’t complain because I still have hair rn), old glasses, unflattering sweats, hunched over, not talking, and walking super slowwww – like an elderly grandmother, just observing the homes and other, unimportant details of life… a leaky drain, fat robins, and too many potholes. Sometimes I take a ziplock bag of super thinly sliced honey crisp applies with me – because apples that are cut too think are incredibly irritating and too intense right now. And yes, that’s a good example of how irritated I have felt in this chemo fog – usually with Chris when he asks annoying questions or says stuff (like anything) #poorchris

In addition to the bone pain, my mouth feels like 50 cold sores are about to erupt. I’ve been gargling with salt/baking soda/water mixture (yum!) 5x/day to help keep the sores away. Every time I swish, I imagine being in the ocean… otherwise I might throw up.

On the bright side, I haven’t had much nausea (yet). I still have magnets on my wrists and I’m trying to eat a mix of bland food (pastas, rice, bread) and healthy stuff when I’m up for it.

My next chemo is scheduled for Monday, 5/6. I am definitely going to try acupuncture to help with the symptoms. If I can make it through chemo without taking narcotics, I will be happy. Might not be possible — but I’m going to try.

Thanks for sending your healing thoughts my way. I didn’t want to post until I had turned a corner and today felt like that day. Here’s hoping the next two weeks are good to me and I can rebuild before chemo #2 💪🏼❤️

One of our many walks around the neighborhood this week ❤️

Soaking in as much vitamin D as possible with this guy ☀️