When is Saturday like a Tuesday??
Apparently right after I stop chemo and radiation. Several people have reminded me that Tuesdays during the last half of my treatment tended to be challenging days (health wise). My not feeling well from yesterday continued through much of today, though I did try and help my friend Luis build a sidewalk walk in my backyard today. Unfortunately, i was out for about 20 minutes and was sweating and breathing heavily and feeling worse than I had, so I ended up coming inside and laying down. I stayed in bed for the majority of the day to save up my energy. With Grandma Heidrich visiting, we decided to go to Dave & Buster’s to celebrate my older son’s birthday (which isn’t for several more weeks (but Grandma was here NOW), as well as the end of my treatment!
I made it to D&B and even ate some food (prior to that I had only managed to eat an apple and a small thing of yogurt). I sat at the bar after dinner, though, sipping on a Bitter’s and coke (for those of you who did not know, Bitter’s and coke is an old bartender’s remedy for an upset stomach). They helped a little, but the real issue is that I feel as if someone punched me in the stomach — it’s a fairly dull, though pervasive, ache in my abdomen.
Long-time reader’s of my blog might remember how, when I had first learned of my diagnosis, I started having stomach ache’s, which, at the time, I attributed to my “feeling” the tumor. When it was pointed out to me that perhaps it was nerves, the ache went away (and boy, did I feel foolish). My aches yesterday and today feel much the same, so I tried taking some anti-anxiety medication to see if that would help. We’ll see. In the meantime, I will go take a warm shower and see if warm water on my tummy helps.
There is something “unfair” about feeling worse AFTER my treatment, though. Though, life is not always fair and, as Randy Pausch has said, “We cannot change the cards we have been dealt, just how we play the hand.” With that in mind, I remain, as always, “all in!”
Merle
