Pain, Pain, and More Pain

So, you probably thought that you were keeping up with the blog. 

And now you feel like it's been awhile without any news and you're thinking maybe you weren't on top of it after all and must have missed some posts.

No, you haven't. It has been more than a few days since I posted any updates. Here's why:

(1) Reading like a crazy woman because it is about to be Summer Reading season and I MUST get my list done!

(2) Getting everything organized for the last week of Pantry Packs for the school year...HALLELUJAH!

(3) I have been in CONSTANT pain. And let me clarify what this means. Today (Weds. 6/5) is the first day in 10 DAYS where I haven't felt like I wanted to die. For some reason, I woke up the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend in pain from head to toe. Not just a general achy-ness, but total body pain. Of the stabbing/shooting pain variety. 

After 4 days, Keith was calling the doctor because this clearly cannot be normal. I do not look right when I move (if I can move), and there are times when I'm brought to tears. Around day 5, I am finally able to put into words what is going on: you know those spikes that some people wear on their shoes to aerate the lawn? It felt like a 400 pound man was wearing those and walking all over my body, ALL DAY LONG. 

3 Tylenol and 2 Ibuprofin every 4 hours was not making a dent in the pain. And I refused to take the good drugs (Oxy) because that's not really a solution in my opinion. (Though one friend suggested taking enough Oxy to put myself in a coma for 4 days and then maybe when I woke up the pain would be gone. By day 7, I was actually considering this, if only I'd been able to get the dosage correct).

What's really special about this entire cancer/chemo/treatment process is that feeling bad is the new normal. If you talk to anyone that I interacted with last week, I appeared to be okay. At least, I was upright and functional most of the time. It's sad what you get used to experiencing.

But today, KNOCK ON WOOD, I haven't experienced the stabbing me with steak knives pain, so I'm hoping I'm in the clear from whatever the hell this was. Doctor has no real answers except that everyone experiences chemo differently, and it is not unusual to have delayed side effects. Great! Any more surprises up your sleeve?