Finished the worst of cycle three. The nausea was under much better control, that I didn’t feel nearly as bad. I did find that I tired easily and I slept for 13-hours on Sunday night.

I also had a weird side effect that started on Monday and is just now resolving. I realized on Monday that I could not taste salt! When we had a power outage on Monday near dinner we grab some McDonalds and went to a friends for a visit. The fries didn’t taste like much – they just aren’t the same without the salt. The pistachios I tried also didn’t taste like much. Makes me wonder about the food I made – and how salty or unsalty it was! It is difficult to cook when your taste buds are lying to you! Fortunately by Wednesday night I was tasting salt again.

I don’t recall whether ir was Monday or Tuesday but I’m definitely noticing neuropathy in my feet. It is odd because I can feel temperature and presure if there is enough of it, but not tactile sensations. It is really noticeable when I’m in the pool swimming. I’m going to have to start walking with my poles again. I noticed that I’ve had a few times where I’ve rolled my ankle while walking. I think that is from not noticing that the ground wasn’t level.

My energy levels are certainly lower this cycle. I think I’m feeling the effects of low red blood cells. My white cells were normal before chemo – thanks to the white cell booster – but there is nothing that they do for the red cells. I suspect they will continue to dive – but I only have one more treatment of the CT (Taxotere and Cytoxan).

I’m realizing that I know little about the side effect of radiation. From from what I’m reading the first couple of weeks will be mostly normal and the fatigue will start to set in and there may be (likely) skin issues (like a really bad sunburn). But that is all that I know of. I don’t know if there will be any other side effects.

To complicate matters, I have a tooth infection. It needs a root canal. My dentist called up my oncologist and they chatted. I’m on an antibiotic now for a week which will hopefully calm the tooth down. We are trying to avoid doing the root canal until mid to late January when chemo is done and my blood counts have rebounded

I’m certainly having a hard time taking it easy. It is in my nature to be go-go-go and with the final steps to getting condo certification happening, I find myself wanting to be helping get things done. I’ve been doing some small drywall repairs and will do some priming and painting soon. Of course, there is still some minor painting needed in my home,

I also have some sewing projects I’m trying to get to. The good thing is, that when I’m too tired to do anything else usually I can still do some sewing.