DOXIL on deck

I've been on chemo for over a year, mostly IV chemo. Many folks ask me what is it like and what are the side effects? In my last post in October, I mentioned fatigue. And, yes, for me, that's the most frequent and critical effect.

I tried to come up with some condition that a non-chemo person could relate to that would help them "feel" what I'm going through. The closest thing I can think of is a very bad case of the flu. No respiratory symptoms for me (for the most part), but a continuous, unabated, relentless, fatigue; aches and pains; and brain fog. It's not for the faint of heart.

You lose your train of thought before you even reach the depot. A friend talks and you have a response but as soon as he stops talking, you forget what your point was. You even forget the topic. In those cases, it's just better to go out for ice cream.

Speaking of friends, I now have a 3-hour limit on how long I can be with friends. Luckily, that's also pretty much the extent of time most of my friends want to spend with me, so we're all good.

I just had a scan that shows a bit of progression to my liver.  DANG IT!!!! @#$#!^%*(&&

OK, I'm better now.

I start on Doxil next week. Doxil is a kissin' cousin of the dreaded Red Devil, Adriamycin or doxorubicin.  I call it killer chemo. Most patients call it killer chemo.

I was on a low dose of Taxotere, which thankfully kept my counts at a livable stage. But my cancer simply scoffed at that, "Ha ha, I'll show YOU!! You think you can kill me without killing yourself?! Got another thing coming, girlie."

And so the bugger came back. It's a delicate balance between getting enough chemo to damage the cancer cells without doing permanent damage to my dear person as well.

It's just an all-around CRAP SHOW!!

So, onward and upward to Doxil, may the best (wo)man win...