Tiredzolomide

That's what I'm renaming temozolomide to after the amount of fatigue it gave me this past week. I'm reminded of cycle 7 in terms of being hit by fatigue from it, though the onset was a bit later. Unlike that cycle, when I was hit right away, it kicked in on Tuesday. By Wednesday, I was napping in the clinic while getting chemo. I was able to make it to physical therapy that day, but on Friday, I opted to go straight back instead and get more rest. The tiredness continued through the weekend, where I spent a lot of time in bed. I think I'm finally over it now, having napped most of the afternoon. Just in time for some more chemo this week, though irinotecan alone does not make me so tired.

The week before last was busy with appointments, as I'd mentioned earlier. Physical therapy twice, a follow-up with Dr. Healey, a blood count check, and a follow-up with my prosthetist. Highlights: at physical therapy, I learned how to do situps and pushups even though I have only one leg. Situps actually aren't that hard using the same technique I did when I had both my legs, but there's a bit less stability with a stump not on the ground, so putting my legs on a big ball are an option if I want a completely stable base. Pushups require putting a ball (a kickball-sized rubber ball suffices) under my stump to make them work like I did before, or I can do them on my knees (less intense). At my visit with Dr. Healey, he examined my stump and saw me walk. Overall, he was pleased with my recovery. Interestingly enough, he thinks that a dry, darkened spot on my stump that is lined up with a point on the outside a little below my knee at which I was getting some pressure from my prosthesis is actually a wart, and I'm going to see a dermatologist in a little over a week to investigate. At the prosthetist's, I got more relief from the pressure spot with a small adjustment to the socket. I haven't gotten any pressure there since, though now I'm getting a bit of pressure at the bottom of my stump. Still, it's been an improvement overall, and I can walk with closer to normal speed now, so as long as I make progress I'm happy.

Now, onto a week of irinotecan alone with hopefully a lot less tiredness than what I went through last week. In a way, though, what I went through was not enough tiredness -- I talked about napping, but a lot of the time, I was lying down hoping I would but instead remaining awake while feeling the fatigue. It would have been better if I'd just slept though it all, which was actually the case this afternoon. I certainly wouldn't mind actually sleeping through as much of the chemo period as possible so I can experience less of all the bad feelings, but then again, it wouldn't be chemo without all of those, now would it?