IT is....constipation! TMI alert for the general public!!
I guess the main thing I want to say is, take this threat seriously! I had no indication it would be a problem for me until it actually happened. I went in to use the bathroom and BOOM, I could not. What followed was HOURS of excruciating pain and sitting there trying. It started at around 6:00 PM and it was 12 hours later before I was finally able to pass it. By then the pain was so horrible I could barely stand it. Even afterward there was residual pain. I was afraid I would not be able to walk all day but it did get better.
Later, I researched and found that this is a totally normal side effect of chemo that many were as surprised by as I was. I read that you should NOT make regular use of laxatives because it will quickly turn in the other direction! I did take one dose, and I am not sure it helped at all. Once the initial incident was passed, I have not had a problem since.
I was not clear on whether the chemo itself causes the problem, or whether it's more the 2 days where I was unable to drink even an entire bottle of water, combined with lying around not eating. It happened after I had been feeling better and eating normally for a couple of days. Maybe that shocked my system.
So for next time I bought some fiber, and intend to take stool softeners during that time period, and see if that helps.
Other than that, this has been a blissfully normal week. I have been going about my usual business and honestly tend to forget sometimes that I am currently going through hell. I went to my 30 year class reunion this weekend and had so much fun! It's really the only time I have worn my wig. Honestly I sort of wish I had not spent the money on the wig now. It's funny how that has changed. I would have been perfectly comfortable wearing a bandanna to the reunion. I used to wear the wig to the store but now I just wear the bandanna. I don't think I will ever be comfortable going out bald but who knows, since I HAD to have the wig at first? I am kind of liking not having to deal with frizz, etc. Now I just use a drop of shampoo and I don't have to dry it. Who knew having no hair would be so simple? LOL!
Tomorrow I am going to drive up to the Boy Scout camp and spend the night with the little boys before bringing them home. Then I have a list of things I want to get done this week before my treatment on Tuesday. Not the least of which is to have fun on the holiday weekend! I don't want to ever take normalcy for granted again.
I've been doing some research on the advice of a friend who had a lumpectomy last August, but no chemo. I would like to talk to her some more because I was not clear on whether chemo was advised or not. In our conversation I told her I am hypothyroid, and she told me there seems to be a link between that and breast cancer. She gave me some sites to look at and to check into iodine supplements. So I've been reading and I REALLY want to start on that supplement. It's interesting that at my last regular Dr. appt. he did test my iodine level. He said it was normal - but then again, so was my thyroid on those tests - low normal, which for me is NOT normal. So I suspect the same is true of the iodine. I want to ask the oncologist about it because they told me don't take any supplements without asking first. Yet I am torn because if he says no - well, like I said, I still have this distrust of doctors! I just want to make sure it won't react with the chemo I guess. I am just so confused and torn over all this. I want so badly to NOT need chemo. I just want to feel good, and be healthy. It just sucks.
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