TREATMENT DIARIES

[ruthere]

Hey Mousey,

Sorry to hear you have yet another sx rearing its ugly head.  Have you ever tried Carmex?  I used it on my lips, but also on the tips of my fingers where they would split and on my nose when it was dried and cracked during the winter.

Headaches, I think that comes with the Pegasys, I hope they are manageable!

Have a great weekend!

  MWAH

Kim

[nialla]

missy;
can you take ibuprofen?  that's what helped me most with the power headaches.  i do the narco pain meds for body aches and pains but they make the headaches worse.  for the facial skin stuff i used cortisone 1% with aloe vera.  my fingers were splitting really badly too, i had sores on the knuckles and i had steroid creams for that.  great that you're still not smoking cigarettes, i actually started again on tx but i've stopped since october 7th.  although i love smoking, there is nothing positive about it, it just sucks the life out of your body.  take tranquilizers instead, you'll relax, sleep better and not be as anxious.  i was on Lorazepam, they definitely cut the edge at times.

*nialla

[19Dragon52]

~Mousey & Bill

It's been a few days since you posted here in your Diary.  I am praying that you are feeling well enough to enjoy Christmas and the New Year!

I couldn't get my computer to do anything last night.  I tried for an hour to get into chat but it wasn't happening so I shut down my computer for the night.  We had 40mph winds with rain all afternoon and then the same winds with snow into the evening.

Get your rest for that fatigue and keep flushing your system to help combat the headaches.  Dang those clown lips...I hope that is subsiding some for you!

Love You Dearly.....

[kentucky]

you may be getting other sx from the drugs you are using to counteract the tx sx...

i used excedrin for headaches, works good but has caffeine in it.
which i guess you know is not good. you have to counteract caffeine with even more water.
hopefully, your headaches will subside or not be as bad by the 5th week.
i think it is caused by the riba. are you taking food with your riba and plenty of water.

as far as the dry mouth on the corners, that has to be uncomfortable.
have you tried carmex?

[MissyMouse]

Hi kids!

I've done pretty good today actually.  No headaches, no  nausea tired as heck though LOL.  Had to be at lab at 6:30 a.m. so I could get my results in before the day was out.  Gotta have those results before I can shoot up.  Got them in plenty of time... all counts are normal.  Whites are starting to drop.  Just barely in normal.  I suspect next week they will drop below normal.  Interesting thing is there was no ANC count on the labs from this facility.  Couldn't use Quest this week or next week 'cause of holidays.  Lab Express will release the result within 2 hours and will fax them to me so they don't have to bug the doctors during their holiday off unless there is a problem.  Managed to get turkey washed out, stuffing is made, fresh greenbeans snapped and ready to go in crockpot with ham hocks, sweet potatos scrubbed and all wrapped in foil.  All I gotta do tomorrow is peel taters for mashed taters, and throw everything in the ovens.

Tomorrow will be a good day.  I'll get to see the grandbaby FINALLY!  I've wasn't allowed to go into the hospital 'cause of the RA meds and had to stay away from the kids' house 'cause they are not the cleanest people around.   The RA meds wack the heck out of the immune system.  And my cousin will be here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m.  She lives in West Palm which is about 2  hours south of me.

Happy holidays to all.

Mouse

[beingbecky]

Wow Mouse,

Can I come to your house for dinner.

Glad youget to see the baby tommarrow. Merry Christmas.

Beckers

[kentucky]

glad to hear you are had a good day. 

[19Dragon52]

(((((Good Afternoon Mousey)))))

I was so happy to see You & Bill in the Chatroom last night.  It was quite a turnout, eh?  It sounds like you had a Wonderful Christmas and I am so glad.  How are you feeling, today?  I hope "chipper!"  You'll probably need a little time to rest though, yes?

I do believe our snow is now the right consistency for making a Snowman!  I have a few chores to do before I go out to play but I'm going to give it a go...just for you!    This ought to be "Interesting!"  Of course I'll take a picture for you.  It will probably be titled, "Fossil collapses at the foot of Frosty!"

Anyway, I wanted to check in with you and make sure that Bill is staying out of trouble and that you are not enveloped in a cocoon of Silly String.

Wishing You The Best.....

[MissyMouse]

I  can't wait to see this snowman!  For those of you here that don't know ... I've never seen snow and this year was going to be the year that I built my first snowman.   Unfortunately the relapse and going back on tx messed that up.  But .... winter of 2009 I WILL build that snowman!

Mouse

[MissyMouse]

Well .... LOL ...

I thought it was a bit weird when I got the lab results faxed to me from the lab that there was no ANC count on them.  My phone rings at about 11:00 a.m. this morning ... Bill looks at the caller ID and it says "Vero Gastroenterology".  It was my docs office.  Thought that was a bit odd. 

Turns out there was s second page to my labs LOL.  My ANC is down to 800.  I'm not critical yet but if I drop to 750 they are going to recommend a 50% reduction in the Pegasys.  Gonna talk to the doc when I go on the 16th about going on Neupogen.  I've still got my fingers crossed that I rebound on my own.  I dropped to 756 early in treatment the last tiime and I did manage to rebound  within a week back up to 1000 and pretty much stayed there the entire 48 weeks.

Mouse
P.S.  Next labs are at 6:30 a.m. on Monday, New Years Eve and you can bet I'm gonna say something to them about faxing me the ENTIRE report.  My doc is trusting me enough to be able to know how to adjust my dosage if any of my important counts drop too low don't need the lab ruining that trust.

[memarcie]

Do you still have the Neupogen I gave you Missy?  You can tell your doc you are all set and already have the Neupogen ready to go if you ANC falls!  Hopefully you won't need it!

[MissyMouse]

Hey there Little Marcie Cheesecake! 

I left a message on your cell phone about the Neupogen this afternoon.  I never heard from that other person that was in worse financial situation than I so I wanted to  make sure it was o.k. to go ahead and use it.  We're  gonna be having dinner with Sparkie and Mr. Sparkie on Jan. 4 and I'm gonna pick up your generous Neupogen donation from her then.  I had left it with her when I left the campout so it would stay refrigerated while I was at Shands and as Sparkie said ... so we had another excuse to hook up and have dinner LOL.

Oh, BTW... I'm thinking about not reducing my dose even if doc tells me to.   I'm thinking I'll do the full dose and call Dr. Nelson up at Shands and have him call my doc down here to discuss it first.  I REALLY don't want to take a reduction this early.

Mouse

[memarcie]

Missy, I never heard back from Dave if he was going to call you.  He was in Orlando  a couple weeks ago I think, so if he didn't contact you about it, then I guess he didn't need it.  He was very close to the end of tx.  So by all means use it! 

Well, you go Monday for your labs right?  And Tuesday you do your shot?  Hopefully you don't get results right away and they don't call before your shot.  Remember how low my ANC was Missy?  It was under 500 for a few weeks before my doc gave me Neupogen.  Actually down to 280 or 260 something.  He kept telling me to reduce dose and I kept saying no, LOL.   In my opinion you are fine, but I'm not a doctor   

[MissyMouse]

Cheesecake,

I know you and Lyn both went real low and both managed to convince the docs not to force the reduction.  That's why if he drops again  I'm gonna get Shands involved.  They already told me that they would be available for both me and  my doc should a situation arise. 

Oh and on another note, I can't remember who told me to try the Carmex for the cracking in the corners of my mouth but I picked some up yesterday ... put it on last night and I was over 50% healed in both corners of my mouth when I woke up!!!!

Thank you to all who suggested this.  I had tried the Biotene Gel and neosporine and couldn't get this much relief!

Mouse

[memarcie]

Well, my doc kept telling me to reduce and I kept saying no.  I listen real well don't I?  I just got your message this morning, had my phone in my purse all afternoon and never checked it!

Glad the Carmex worked for you.