The other side of 'side effects'

You must have been wondering why such a long silence, as normally I find myself posting on this blog everyday and even twice a day! Before I tell you why, rest assured Ranjan is doing well though this chemo took a little longer to recover from. But then this how it goes, from OK to worse, and we are not even midway if we go by what the doc said! So there were no terrible bad effects as my brews are still effective, but poison is poison and the body can reject only that much. What was different this time was a lingering nauseous feeling, a loss of appetite though he ate what we gave and lethargy. But he is back to normal (the chemo normal) and the blood results was as expected WBC tumbling from 19 000 to 3800. The boosting shots will begin next Monday for 3 days and the 6th chemo will again kill 12000 of them in 3 days. One has got used to this.

This time it was I who reacted to a medicine given to me by my own trusted doctor. The story goes like this: I had been having a nagging knee/leg pain and asked for some magical cure as it was hampering my much needed 40 minutes of treadmill: my daily feel good dose. So he gave me a pill telling me that I may feel a little woolly the next morning but that it will settle down. The next morning I was not a little woolly but blown out as if I had had a bad acid trip. I slurred and banged into every wall or door or anything else. Being me I insisted on carrying on with my routine and came down to my den and sat at my computer but soon realised that I was not in a state of mind to write anything. I barely wrote two mails with great difficulty as my muscles seemed working on their own and not listening to my brain. I went back to bed feeling miserable. It could not have happened on a worse day as I had to meet 2 donors at noon. I spoke to the Doc and he told me that the side effects should wear out by then. Not in the least. At noon I was just able to drag myself to the doctor. My BP was 56/79! I was asked to go back and drink electrolytes and rest. In the evening the BP was still 56/80. I slept and woke up this morning with a head ache but feeling a tad better. The BP was 60/85 a shade better but not quite there. I hope that the side effects of this damn drug will wear off as I am miserable not being follow my sacrosanct schedule.

At 2pm I will be taking Ranjan for his weekly visit to his oncologist. I hope I make it without swaying and wobbling and being a nuisance. As for my knees and legs, they better behave as I am not even trying any new drug till Ranjan's chemo is over.