nickysfight's Cancer Blog

February 6, 2007

Chemo Sucks!

Views: 115

Hi Everyone

Mom is holding up pretty well but chemotherapy definately sucks. Mom has been pretty tired and ill. She also got in trouble with Dr. Barrington today because she lost too much weight this week. She lost 11 pounds since her visit last week! She is going to try to get in more calories but her appetite is non-existent since switching to the new chemo. The doctor said she needs to take her anti-nausea medicine regularly instead of only when she feels nauseous to try to get a little bit of her appetite back.

She did feel a lot better after her visit to Dr. Barrington today; they replenished her fluids intraveneously. She typically feels much better after these visits where they give her fluids or Aranesp, a red blood cell booster. She gets the Aranesp because she has had some problems the last few weeks with anemia.

Anemia

Anemia (ah-NEE-mee-ah) is the scientific name for a low red blood cell count. A low red blood cell count may cause you to feel fatigued or sluggish because there is not enough oxygen circulating in your body. This condition can be effectively managed with one of several treatments, including blood transfusion if necessary.

The liver biopsy confirmed that the spots on Mom’s liver are malignant but also showed that they are shrinking fast so the chemo is doing its job! They actually had a hard time finding a spot on her liver to biopsy during the CT-scan. We hope that it continues to attack the cancerous cells in the liver so it can completely go into remission.

I know you can do this Mom! I’m sorry you feel so crappy but just remember that it is only temporary……..we’re going to beat this! Then I’ll take you out for all the ice cream you can eat.