2nd round of R-CHOP three days ago. Here’s what’s happening.

Had my pre-treatment blood draw and oncology appointment followed by round 2 R-CHOP Wed 10/6. Turns out my WBCs aren’t jumping back as expected, and I’m neutropenic (which accounts for the mouth sores I was starting to get. WBC count wasn’t low enough to change treatment course just yet. We will also be changing out how I handle the nausea this time around.

I needed to make sure I ate enough on chemo do so I wouldn’t get so woozy. As for nausea, this time we are doing three days of Olanzapine, then Lorazepam as necessary for anxiety and nausea. Seems to be working so far. As for the WBC counts, we are introducing Granix self-injections at home to help boost growth from the marrow.

I had started losing my hair over the last week. It started coming out in earnest three days before treatment 2. I have shaved my head the last couple of years out of ease (since I got head lice from one of my daughters), but was still keeping a beard. What was left on my face and not on my shirt overnight last night needed to come off. It was really patchy and thin. That sorta felt real to me.

A lot of this doesn’t feel like it’s happening, but obviously here we are. Maybe as my appearance changes, it will start to mash up with how lousy I feel a lot of the time.

The new drugs are keeping me pretty low energy the last couple days. Hopefully more sleep helps me out. I have a draw in a couple more days to see if the Granix is doing the trick. Fingers crossed. Let’s go WBCs.

If you’re still reading this, thanks for staying with me. Good night.