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6/29/06

My battle with nausea continues. Currently I am taking two kinds of anti-nausea medicines every 8 hours; Zofran and Lorazepam. Zofran prevents me from throwing up, but does not help me with appetite. Lorazepam has an anti-anxiety effefct, and consequently knocks me down.

Even though today was the first day of radiation therapy, it was simply a preparation, and real treatment will start tommorrow. I was warned that the possible side effect is "nausea" again. Like it or not, nausia is going to be my partner for the next 6 weeks.

When I went to BWH yesterday, the nuturitianist recommended that I add another can of food to J-tube (total of 1000 calories). Even though it is not a pretty picutre, I am now very happy that the surgeon inserted the J-tube so that I can maintain my strength. As far as real food goes, the only thing I enjoyed today was watermelon, and ginger tea.

During the afternoon, I walked a little less than 1 mile. When walking you can forget about nausea, and can pay attention to the activities outside, and remember what the normal life used to be. I am grateful that I am not constrained in the hospital for that.

I hear that my friend's friend kept teaching one class at a college during the chemotherapy. How could she do that?!

I hope that this process becomes something of a routine soon, so that I can expect fatigue and nausea beforehand .