Stye of the Eye!

Yesterday my eye lid started hurting at the upper tear duct and there was some swelling, this morning it was worse. I thought maybe my tear duct was blocked. I was googling blocked tear ducts and some of the sites I found said that it could be a side effect of some chemos. I was not having any other symptoms of a blocked tear duct except the pain and swelling but I also have really dry eyes so I was not surprised that my eyes were not watering over. I called my oncologist's office because it was something out of the ordinary and that is what I am supposed to do. His nurse, Katie (she is awesome), set me up with an appointment with an eye doctor this afternoon. The eye doctor examined my eyes and said it was the beginnings of a stye and that it was good we caught it early. Warm compress on it 4 times a day for 20 minutes each. The eye doctor also gave me a regime for my dry eyes... and also a diagnosis for my dry eyes - Blepharitis/Meibomian Gland Dysfunction. Once my baby stye is cleared up I still have to do warm compresses everyday but only 1-2 times a day and for only 10 minutes along with eye drops and lid scrubs daily. The daily regime will help prevent any more styes as well as help my eyes with moisture. I've had problems with dry eyes for years so hopefully this daily regime will help alleviate some of the discomfort of it.


Yesterday I was also feeling some side effects from the Taxol - muscle/joint pain. I can only take Tylenol for pain so I took that and it helped. Today the pain was much less.

Chemo #5... intro to Taxol

I am done with my four rounds of AC (Adriamycin and Cytoxan) and I am now on Taxol for my last 4 rounds. Taxol is definitely different than AC... one noticeable different in sleeping. On AC chemo days I would pretty much come home and sleep through out the day and go to bed really early and sleep through the night. Yesterday I took no naps and went to bed late and am now wide awake at 5am writing a blog post because I could not fall back to sleep. Another noticeable difference is no nausea.... YAY!

I've been making sure I do more physical activities so I have been walking on my lunch hour during the week and I did more yard work on Sunday morning and also riding my stationary bike. It's helping me to feel better and my leg muscles don't feel like wet noodles anymore so that's good.

Neuropathy... I don't recommend it

One of the side effects of chemo is neuropathy. I occasionally have been getting tingly finger tips and with the last round my muscles in my legs are feeling a little jello-y at times. I feel the need to be more physically active. I have not exercised in quite a while (really since I started chemo in the end of November) so I need to pick that up again. I decided today I wanted to get outside and do something so I went in the back yard and pulled weeds and tidied up the decomposed granite patio area.

Before

After

I am feeling better after getting outside and moving around. I need to make it a priority to be active everyday even if it's just taking a walk around the block. This has always been an issue with me, but I know if I do it I will feel better.

Chemo #4 & Random Thoughts

Round #4 of chemo is done. This was my last round of AC (Adriamycin and Cytoxan), my next 4 rounds will be of Taxol which I am told is less harsh. I'm feeling pretty good today. Yesterday after chemo I spend the day dozing in front of the tv and finally just went to bed around 7:30pm. My nausea to has been pretty good. I took my morning dose of Zofran and Decadron and have not needed to take anything since then which is really good... I normally have to take a dose of Compazine around noon.

Random Thoughts:

DON'T offer unsolicited advise if you have never gone though cancer or treatments or are not close to someone who has. Chances are anything you have read on the internet/heard on the radio/seen on television I have read/heard/seen as well.

DO feel free to talk to me and ask me questions. I am willing to answer any questions you have about how I discovered my tumor or the treatment or side effects or really anything. Don't feel weird about it.

My skin on my face has changed during treatment. It's less oily - my skin normally is really oily and now I don't find myself blotting my face every time I go into the restroom and look in the mirror. I ain't complaining about that! It also feels smoother.

AGE SPOTS!!!! FTW!!!! I have noticed some "age spots" popping up on my face. I pointed them out to my mom and she said I need to wear sunscreen, well as a pasty white girl I put sunscreen on my face everyday (and have been for years) and my face primer and foundation also have sunscreen in them so I don't think that is the issue... it's gotta be the chemo.