Content Warning: There are some potentially gross healthcare things discussed here
Some fun facts about this week:
- I've lost more than 5 pounds
- I only worked 1 day and had the other 4 as either sick or vacation
- I've made 2 trips to Urgent Care
- The Private Select Chicken Noodle Soup from Kroger is actually really good, but not as good as my Aunt Carolyn’s
- Radiation proctitis is a thing and it sucks
At the end of last week I wrote that it was the hardest week. And up to that point it was. Oh brother, I had no idea what was in store for me this week!
Last weekend was a holiday weekend in the US which meant that I had Monday off. A nice relaxing 3 day weekend. Except that on Sunday I spiked a mild fever. Now, in most cases a mild fever isn't a big deal, but when you're coming off of a regimen of chemo meds and radiation your entire immune system is basically shot to shit. Mine was actually pretty good considering, but not really good enough to risk it.
I texted my doctor friend for some advice and she said it should go to the Urgent Care which I did. I had happened to take some Tylenol before going, but when I got there my fever had gone from 99.5F / 37.5C at home to about 100.5F /38.1C . They performed some labs on me and kept me for observation for about an hour and watched as my temperature slowly went back to normal. My labs came back pretty good considering the treatment I had just endured.
One of the big issues I had been having was being able to eat. I wasn't nauseous, but trying to find something that didn't cause GI discomfort was challenging (and it still kind of is, but it's getting better).
So on Monday and most of Tuesday I just couldn't eat much of anything.
I woke up Wednesday morning feeling the worst I have felt in a very long time. Some of my burns had spent most of the night 'weeping' and so Emily drove me to Urgent Care to have it checked out.
At my visit I had lab work done (again), and got an IV for the first time in my life. I also had a professional do wound care on my burns and realized that maybe I had been not doing it correctly.
I had called out sick so I didn't have to think about going back to work at all which was a mental load off of me. By about 1pm I had decided that I needed to take the rest of the week off. I wasn't going to be able to heal and work and I need to focus more on healing than on working.
This might have been the best decision I've ever made. I spent the rest of Wednesday resting and eating Chicken noodle soup. I slept pretty well, but Thursday did have some GI issues first thing in the morning. Once I got through those though I spent more time resting, eating Chicken noodle soup and drinking an electrolyte drink. In between that I found time to watch the movies Greenland, and Greenland 2: Migration. Spoiler alert, they're not about Greenland AT ALL! But they were mindlessly entertaining which is exactly what I needed.
I woke up Friday morning feeling the best I had felt in more than a week. That's not to say I feel good. I don't. But, I don't quite feel like the worst I've ever felt. And that is progress. Emily told me that I need to go outside to
touch the grass and stand in the sun for at least 1 minute
So I went outside for 3 minutes and it was just lovely.
Finally, I was also able to attend Jeff's Office Hours for a short bit and it was really nice getting to see everyone. Like indescribably nice. It was a small group which helped with general chat, but getting to see and talk with Jeff, Maryanne, Chris, Chris, and Tim was just the best. Brett Canon said
and oh boy was he on to something. I have a post for my main blog kicking around in my head about my Python experience, that I'm hoping I'll be able to write in the next few weeks.
I still have the weekend to rest and recover and am hopeful that I'll be able to do close to a full day at work on Monday, but only time will tell.