This Monday I started my second cycle of chemotherapy, which means that I am back to going to the doctor's office every day. The good news is that after three (long) days of chemotherapy, I don't feel as nauseous as I did during my first cycle. I still am taking some of my medicine just to be safe, but in general I feel pretty good. I have been tired every afternoon, but that's not too bad.
I spent most of the last week trying to get used to my haircut. It's odd how I didn't think losing my hair would be a very big deal to me, but it ended up being the hardest part of the chemo thus far. I have been self-conscious about it and not wanting very much attention, which is hard to avoid sometimes. I think I am finally getting used to it now, though, because I'm able to do more without a hat. It is just hard to go from having hair all my life to having none, and not having any say in it.
Back to the day-to-day life, I finished the work week without much going on. I was able to stay moderately busy, but it was generally slow around the office. Thursday night my friend Faye came to see me, and play some UFC on Xbox. I let her win a few fights to be nice. Friday night, Adam and I met some friends and went to a movie, and I stayed in my bed at his apartment. I was feeling really good this past weekend, since it had been two weeks since I had a full week of chemo. Saturday morning, Adam rode with me to Dick's Sporting Goods in Memphis and I finally bought a new bike that I have been wanting for a couple months now. I'm pretty proud of it, and spent a good bit of time riding it Saturday and Sunday, and getting used to finally being able to do something physical outside again. Since Monday, I haven't been energetic enough to do anything with it, and I know that this week I will just have to take it easy. Here's a picture of it below:
Pretty cool, huh?
Monday I had a pretty long day at Dr. Walsh's office, because he wanted to meet with me before I started my medicine. Once, I got started with the chemo, though, it went fine and I had no problems. I met a guy there my age going through the same thing as me, and it was pretty cool to talk to him on his first day. He's a nice guy and I hope everything goes well for him during his treatments. It's unfortunate that he has to go through this, too, but nice to talk to someone my age while I'm there. It's been nice talking to his mom, too.
I reread "Of Mice and Men" Monday while I was doing my treatments. The last two days, I have been reading another relatively short book, "The Haunted House" by Charles Dickens, but it just isn't catching my attention. I think I am going to change it up tomorrow. Not sure what I'll take with me, but I will probably stick with something from the last fifty years or so.
I've also been catching up on a lot of movies that I own but have never watched. A lot of them are older movies, like some Woody Allen movies and Citizen Kane, because I like stuff like that. I've also been watching mostly all of the new releases from Netflix, too, so I haven't been very bored at the house.
I felt fine Tuesday, too, and had a pretty uneventful day doing the chemo. Today, I wasn't able to do my chemo at Bartlett since the office was closed. I went back to Oxford like I did during my first cycle. They are really nice at the Oxford office, though it does seem to take longer there to get through all the medicine than it does in Bartlett. I think it has to do with the Bartlett office giving me fluids at the same time as my meds, while Oxford runs each bag one at a time.
After it was over, Mom and I met up with my friend Mike Poole at one of my favorite Oxford restaurants, Volta Taverna for a late lunch. That was pretty cool, but I was pretty tired from sitting in that chair from 8:30 until after 2:00. I ended up taking a nap when I got home after rearranging some things in my room, and haven't really done much else since waking up. I think now I am just going to see if there's anything interesting online and get ready for another day in the recliner tomorrow.
I hope everyone reading is having a good week.
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