This is getting drawn out...

I wish I had nothing to blog about... but alas another week of extremely low white blood cell counts canceled my chemo this week. I see the Oncologist next week so we'll see what he says. Maybe it will be a change to the regimen or maybe it will be another type of chemo... either way, it sucks as this continues to get drawn out. I got my neulasta white blood cell booster shot on Thursday though so Friday my legs were all achy and I didn't feel great. Normally I deal with this on a weekend but they moved up the shot by one day to save me coming down for another appointment. Not a great way to spend your day at work.


Friday I went in for my epidural shot though (to alleviate my lower back and sc iatica pain) ... and this place operated like a factory. The people were all very nice and the doctors spoke to me but they did 22 procedures that afternoon! Let's say there are 4 hours in an afternoon. They were doing them every 15 minutes!?!? Crazy! So I got there and they put me on a bed and I got an IV. The nurse wasn't the best IV giver (and I know IVs!) but I felt bad for him as I had 3 attempts the previous day for my chemo that had bruised up my arm and removed those veins from the running. Once they got the IV in, I walked into the surgery room and got up on a bed that had pillows on it so that I was comfortable lying on my stomach. They injected some stuff in my IV and then the doc started to wash my back. I thought the IV was supposed to be to give me drugs to relax me but the next thing I remember was being asked if I wanted some cookies and something to drink. Gotta love that! Anything I can sleep through something creepy, I'm all for it!


I actually got two epidural shots, one around the L5 and another between S1 and S2. I am hopeful. I should see results in 2 to 7 days. One thing the doctor said, and I just don't know if I can believe him... is that with my youth, that I should recover from this injury fine as the body has ways of healing itself (meaning the cells in the hernation will get absorbed in the body or something like that).


I have so many questions about this herniated disc though... next time I see the doctor, I'm going bring a huge list of questions. I need to find out what I can be doing personally to get better. I want to do everything I can.


Not sure if I updated everyone at my attempt at swimming last week... it went OK. I made four lengths of the pool before my arms got really tired and I didn't want to push it. I was shocked. I mean, even if I haven't been swimming in a long time, I could easily swim slowly for an hour before with no problem... my muscles have completely atrophied. After that, I used a flutter board to do lengths just kicking but that gets boring and still puts strain on my arms and chest to hold me up. My underarm and chest were sore a few days later but I'm all recovered now so I'm going to take a stab at another swim or this weekend.

I'm continuing to walk though as that isn't too painful and have enjoyed discovering the Strands beach in Dana Point where they have a cool boardwalk and connected trails that took me about 1.5 hrs to walk a few weeks ago.

Have a wonderful weekend, Happy Valentine's Day and... Go Canada! (I love the olympics!)
Maureen