Neulasta Shot – Definitely Not a Picnic

On Thursday, the next day after chemo I had to go back to the infusion center for my Neulasta shot. The medicine stimulates the growth of healthy white blood cells in the bone marrow so I can build up and fight infection again. Mitch drove me down yesterday and went in with me. It is nice to not have to do this alone. Last night I could feel that my legs were starting to ache. Bone ache is a side effect, so was not a surprise. When I woke up I had more aches and pains. The worst pain today was in my left hand. Made it almost impossible to open pill bottles. The good side effect seems to be that I am quite tired. Not totally sure if that is from the Neulasta or the Chemo. But I have had a terrible time with sleeping since my diagnosis. And today I dozed off three times. That felt good.

I am constantly up and down to use the restroom. I need to drink 2 to 3 quarts of water a day. I generally like drinking water, but it is so drab tasting after chemo that is it harder to want to drink. I also do chemo mouth rinses multiple times to prevent sores in my mouth. They consist of water, baking soda and salt. I have containers made up in the bathroom downstairs and upstairs so it is handy. I keep little disposable cups by it for easy use.

I am also not to use the same towel as anyone else, so I keep paper towels in the bathrooms to make sure I don’t. When you wash your hands this often, they get quite dry, so I have to keep putting lotion on my hands.

I need to keep walking and exercising as much as I can. Mitch helped me get out this morning for a little walk around the neighborhood. Lulu loved that one. She has not been out too much lately. I couldn’t go too far. I did 10 minutes on my Exercycle. I generally do 45 minutes, so will have to force myself to do more segments of time on the bike. My nurse practitioner, Joanna Losito, and my oncology dietitian, Margaret Davis stressed how important it is to keep exercising and especially do weight bearing exercise. I will need to do better than I did today.

Food has no flavor to me. Certain textures feel better than others. Premier Protein drinks are probably my favorite way of getting nutrients in me. That is helpful because then I also add the liquids that I need. I just eat little amounts every 2 or so hours. That helps with not getting too sick. And it seems to be working. Today was a much better day for the nausea. Thank heavens.

I was going through my closet last night. Since I have lost 60 pounds some clothes don’t fit anymore. In addition to that, I have dropped a few bra sizes from the surgery. Some of my favorite shirts don’t fit me at all anymore. I am hoping that I can adjust a couple of my favorites so I can still wear them. It is kind of emotional to try on my favorite things and have them not fit because of my new bust size. But it is exciting to see how big some tops are on me from just loosing the weight that I have lost. I could tell I was fading last night when trying on the clothes. I just had three more that I had the bed at that time so I pushed myself to finish those. That was a mistake. I can’t push myself that hard. I threw up a bit and then thought for sure I was going to faint. Mitch was there and helped me to get into bed to rest. After a while I felt a lot better and was able to rest.