And So We Begin Again

I have to start with this great quote I just heard from the always wonderful Billy Connolly: 

The world is full of horrible things that will eventually get you and everything you care about. Humour and laughter is a universal way to lift your head up and say, “Not today you fuckers”.

I'm trying, Billy. I'm trying. Thanks for the good reminder!

Well, here we go again. On Tuesday, September 3, I had my fifth chemotherapy infusion. As usually, everything went smoothly and I felt no differently throughout that day. Today, I woke up to the hiccups again. Hiccups?! For the past couple rounds, I have noticed that I become incredibly susceptible to hiccups for the day or two after infusion. It would be a more humorous side-effect if I didn't dislike hiccups so much! I probably had hiccups at least six different times today. 

Here's our hypothesis: Hiccups are uncontrolled spasms of the diaphragm. Those spasms are initiated by nerve signals, and many chemo drugs irritate the nervous system. This same hypothesis would probably also explain I keep having restless leg syndrome, or why I have days when I feel like my legs are not just weak but kind of freaking out on me, or that occasional sensation of "chills" in my legs and butt at times when I am definitely not chilly.

Otherwise, though, Day 2 or Round 5 was pretty normal. I could tell I was losing energy as the day went on. It's about 9:30 pm on Wednesday right now and I'm starting to feel ready for bed but not because I feel horrible. I'm just getting tired.

(As a lifelong night owl, my usual bedtime was usually somewhere between midnight and 2 am. Now, I'm usually in bed by 10, and certainly even earlier when the chemo is hitting hard.)

I keep another journal, separate from this one and not online, where I'm really just documenting the timing and severity of side-effects. If the past four rounds is any indication, I'm in for a somewhat bad day tomorrow followed by 5-7 more very bad days after that.  yay.  I'm going to try real hard to remember that quote from Billy Connolly during that time.