Radiation -- Finished!

Last session was yesterday. I'm going to kind of miss the techs... they were all very nice and made what could have been an unpleasant experience much less so. I won't miss having a chunk of time taken out of everyday. And the good news is my hip seems much better. Actually the hip doesn't hurt at all. I still have the tweekiness right in the crease of my leg... the thing that made me think it was a ligament thing all along. But all the problems I had walking last week are gone. Maybe it was all the rest I got with all the snow last week.

I also had my pre-chemo appointment today. Blood counts were all good so I'm a go for chemo on Friday. I don't have the latest CA125 though. I'll be curious to see where that is at. I also got a prescription for a couple of sleep aids [Ativan and Ambien] so I will hopefully get more rest in the days immediately following chemo. Hope it helps. They also went ahead and scheduled a session for 1/16/09. She will let me know if the oncologist wants a CT scan before then. I've also got an odd lump on my right temple that I just noticed when my hair fell out. He may want to do a head scan as well to see if they can tell what that is. It has definitely been making me nervous since I noticed it.

We also talked about taking L-glutamine to help with the neuropathy. I've had some numbness in the middle toes on my right foot. I had heard that might help but didn't know how much or how often to take it. The PA said to take it every day. I had been taking it like every third day. She concurred that studies are showing that it actually does help.

I also asked about the discomfort I had been experiencing down my left side. She asked a bunch of questions most of which I answered "no" to so she didn't seem too concerned. What they would be worried about is that I am at a higher risk for a blood clot so she was most concerned about shortness of breath. I feel like I have that but it's moreso that I get a stabbing pain when I breathe deeply so I'm am breathing very shallowly when that starts acting up. It's been bothering me a little the past few days so I am a little worried it's going to much worse with this round of chemo. She also said she had heard from some patients that the area where their tumor is does get achy after chemo so it could be that as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that that is not a big issue this time around. I'm going to watch the fluid intake a little more so I'm drinking only a couple liters everyday instead of the 4 I was drinking last time.