Day 7: The Side Effects They Don't Mention

I woke up at roughly 8:30 on Day 7 and I definitely felt better than Night 6. However, I was still in the hole dealing with the following symptoms:

1. Nausea (I'd rate it @ 5)

2. Fatigue (3.5)

*this might start getting a little uncomfortable to read, but this is to help out future patients so...*

3. Gas - They don't mention this side effect much when they talk to you about chemo but it happens. Here's how I envision chemo's effect on the GI Tract.

Pre-chemo: Imagine a pristine forest with a thriving but peaceful ecosystem, lots of greenery blue skies, and a clearwater stream running down the middle of the picture.

Post-chemo: The forest is now an orange skied apocalyptic wasteland, the ecosystem has mutated and that stream is now this slow-moving toxic sludge. This is the image that comes to my mind when I think of what could possibly produce the amount of gas in my system on Days 6 and 7. Eventually though as with all things, if you heal it right and give it time, it'll be beautiful again.

4. Constipation - Side effect of Zofran for me. No big deal, but stay ahead of it or there's a massive pain penalty involved.

5. A general uneasiness.

Day 7 wasn't eventful. I think that can actually be a problem for some people. It was for me. I kept looking at the clock and wondering to myself, "why is nothing happening?"

I wouldn't be normally be annoyed about nothing happening, but I didn't feel good yet. And man, I wanted to feel good. By around 8:30 pm that night, I was chatting with an old friend and I had a minor (though really obvious) realization that helped me just keep chugging along:

It is okay that three hours passed and nothing's changed, because I know for a fact that things will get better. Therefore, those three hours that have passed are three less hours I will ever have to deal with this and the 'better' part is now inevitably closer.

Problem solved.