Feb. 9: It’s ouchrageous

As I’ve mentioned before, the second week after chemo has been the worst after each of my four treatments thus far. Without going into an exquisitely detailed description of my pain, I can sum it up by saying I feel achy all over, which ultimately translates to extreme grumpiness and sudden loss of friends. Today, after I’d had a rotten morning trying to function like a somewhat normal person and hurt so much I couldn’t nap the afternoon away, I decided I’d had enough. Why should I suffer if there’s a solution? I was really really really hoping I could find a solution.

I called my oncologist’s office and explained my pain to the nurse; she was surprised. She kept asking, “And it’s all over? Not just your back?” That kinda freaked me out. I mean, I thought this all-over ouchiness is pretty normal for someone being treated for lymphoma. I asked if there was anything I could take for the pain, or if there was something I definitely shouldn’t take (chemo patients are encouraged not to take pain relievers because they could mask a fever which could mask an infection). A few phone calls back and forth later, the nurse was able to tell me that apparently this level of pain is not normal, but also not of great concern. Dr. O doesn’t want me to stress over it, and said to go ahead and take Vicodin for a few days until the pain is more tolerable.

Here I was so proud for weaning myself off the Vike over the past couple weeks and now I’m going to be praising its holy generic name again. Pffft.

But I don’t care. I’m so glad I called to ask about this, and that I don’t have to suffer (quite so much) through this second week after chemo. Within 20 minutes of taking a couple Vicodin this afternoon, I felt better. That made Katie’s birthday party dinner at Grandma & Grandpa’s much more pleasant for me than it would’ve been otherwise.

And it’s all about me, right?