Day 4 - 5th Chemo Cycle - Easter Sunday

The prednisone kept me awake last night until about 3:30 a.m.  After a night of not sleeping well, I woke up early this morning as always in order to eat my breakfast and swallow my pills.  We had forgotten to put out the chocolate bunnies and scatter the chocolate eggs last night.  After my breakfast, I had a nostalgic time hiding the chocolate mini eggs for our children to find.  I put the chocolate bunnies at everyone's place setting on the table.  This brought back memories of setting up the house on Easter Sundays when my children were quite young.

My stomach was rumbling and rolling again.  The bathroom was my "room" for about 2 hours.  After that all settled down, it was time for my last anti-nausea pill.  I was going to head back to bed because I was already tired but at that point my son awoke and I wanted to see my children participate in one of their last Easter Egg Hunts.  I gently shook my daughter awake.  She is not a morning person and is slow to respond.  That was until I said "Your brother is already awake and will be getting all the eggs."  She jumped out of bed and grabbed one of the baskets.  The race was on!  It brought joy to my soul and a smile to my face to watch my teenage children enthusiastically participate just like when they were little children.

We then sat down and watched the Men's World Curling Championship game where Canada won the gold!!

I found my stomach responded better to smaller healthy snacks instead of breakfast, lunch and supper.  I'm still fighting thrush and I read that fresh strawberries, cantaloupe and carrots help.  So I had a mid-morning snack of strawberries, a lunch of leftover carrots from last night's supper and then a combination snack later on of carrots and strawberries.  I did break down and have a good serving of supper which consisted of pork roast, yorkshire puddings (done on the BBQ), mashed potatoes, gravy and salad.  I had read that if you combine meat with starch (potatoes) and if you eat white bread it encourages the thrush.  I had no restraint and ate all of the supper.  I did pay for it as I could feel the fizziness of the thrush working.  So out came the Nystatin as a rinse and spit solution.  It has helped.

Early this afternoon, my husband took me out for a drive down to Lake Ontario.  It was windy down by the lake and our attempted walk was aborted because I was getting cold.  We then went for a circuitous drive home so I could enjoy some different scenery as well as get some water views.  Once we got home, I sat outside on the patio in the sun for a little bit.  I was bundled up as if it was mid winter.  I had a touque, 2 hoodies, jacket and 2 afghans wrapped around me to help keep me warm.  I didn't last that long outside as I was getting chilled.  So I carried the afghans inside and they kept me warm while I sat on the couch and watched The Masters golf championship.  It took me several hours to warm up.

It's been a good day although the prednisone is giving me excess energy.  I was wanting to help with the laundry but I seemed to just create tension because I didn't just sit down like I was told.  When I'm on the prednisone, I can almost feel a hum of energy buzzing inside of me.  I know my body is not up to doing much at this point and so it is very frustrating to be "humming" and not able to use the energy up.  However, if I do too much at this time in the cycle, I get light-headed and dizzy.  I feel useless when I'm like this.  I see my husband trying to carry the whole load and I feel very torn as I know that I should be taking it easy but also have this extra energy that could be used.  It is frustrating to say the least.

Overall, this has been a good day though.  I loved watching my children this morning and I loved being out for a drive in the sunshine.  It was nice to get outside and down to the shoreline.  On top of it all, I noticed that my asparagus is sprouting up.  I should be able to cut some for eating this week.  I love asparagus!