Gemzar dose #5

Yesterday I had my fifth dose of Gemzar (the first one of the third round). Although everything was slow to get started, I had a hot mocha in my thermos, cold seltzer in a can, a good book (American Rose, the new biography of Gypsy Rose Lee), the daily crossword puzzle and a couple of new apps to play with on my iPhone. My hematocrit was a little bit down, but it's been lower and Dr G has still decided I should get treatment.

I ran an errand and picked up ground sumac at the new Penzey's Spices store downtown, then came home, spoke to my Mom and my Mum and took a three hour nap on the sofa. Made some chicken soup for dinner, enriched with leftover meatballs and vegetables, a beaten egg and lemon juice (sort of a poor man's avgolemono soup, not nearly as good as at the Continental). You can find a recipe here.

In the evening I ran a small fever of 99.7 degrees, but a Vicodin  brought my temperature down. At 4 AM I awoke with another fever. Luckily I keep meds bedside as well as a glass of water. I sleepily reached out and took another Vicodin, which soon addressed the headache, achy back, night sweat and other fever symptoms. Of course, at that point I realized I had to use the bathroom, so I took my temperature and saw that the fever was only 99.3 degrees. (I am supposed to call the oncologist if a fever hits 100.5 degrees but decided it was the better part of valor to take the Vicodin and not wake anyone else at 4 AM.)

Eventually I fell back asleep around 6 and stayed in bed until just after nine o'clock. I plan to take things easy today. If the runny nose continues and the fever climbs to that magic number, I promise I will call the doctor's office.