Chemo Round 30

Chemo Round 30 began last Monday and ended last Wednesday, and I was back at work and at the gym by Thursday. As each round comes and goes, I am ever grateful for my body's ability to take a lickin' and keep on tickin', and in grand fashion. To be back on my feet a day after being detached is a remarkable thing, and it makes me feel even more confident about treatment. Regardless of how many more rounds I need to tackle, I know I'm game for it. 

During this round of chemo, my appetite was great, GI function was spectacular, AND I learned a new secret about how to get by as unscathed by side effects as possible. Usually, the only side effect I experience on days 2-4 of chemo is a nagging headache which leads to a bit of lethargy. I mean, why exert yourself when you have a headache, right? I'm fortunate to say that this is the only thing I deal with during chemo weeks (aside from the inconvenience that is the bag o' chemo and a needle in my chest from Monday afternoon to Wednesday morning). But here's the secret I learned about the headache and its attendant "blah" feeling.

Whenever I feel the headache coming on -- usually when I've spent too much time on the computer/iPhone or when I've been on a conference call -- I just stop what I'm doing, get comfortable, close my eyes, and fall asleep. As simple as that. I napped like a champ on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, and I think I slept over 10 hours on Wednesday night. Why go through the grossness when you can sleep through it, right? It's like a hangover. Just gotta sleep it off, man. You'd think my years of competitive drinking in college and law school would have led me to this conclusion much sooner, but no. But now I know! It took me 30 rounds to figure it out, but better late than never. All that sleep created a fully supercharged monster by Thursday, which accounted for my long day at work and tough workout at the gym. No matter how seasoned the cancer warrior is, there's always an opportunity to refine one's craft of kicking cancer's ass.

Another update: my tumor markers dropped again. Niiiiice. Not by much this time around, but hey, a lower number is a better number. Little by little, and no matter what it takes, I'm sending a very clear message to the disease in my body: your days are numbered, pal. Meanwhile, as my battle with cancer continues, I'm just going to enjoy the ride, help as many people as I can, sleep off the rough patches, and bounce back stronger than ever.