February 2 was chemo number 7 with a meeting with Dr. Azar. Mom and I met with Dr. Azar, with Dad on speakerphone (ratings & Superbowl meant no day off this time!) Dr. Azar is very happy with my answers to his questions and to what he is NOT finding in his physical exams. I will have a CT scan at the end of the month and Dr. Azar is hopeful that the scan will show more than a 50% reduction in the size of my lymph nodes. He doesn't believe that I will need radiation but if I do need radiation it would only be for a month. As a result, I have started to look for housing in Bloomington for next fall. Bloomington is...special when it comes to housing. People start looking and signing in August for the following year. I am currently looking at one bedroom apartments near campus and trying to find friends who need to fill a room.
Chemo itself went well enough, ish. It was delayed because the nurses wanted to double check with Dr. Azar that he was alright with me getting chemo because my white blood cell count is really, really low. He gave the green light but I am supposed to wear a mask out it public. This made church difficult on Sunday because it was my first time having to wear a mask. It is surprisingly uncomfortable, hot and unattractive. I have been wearing masks daily during my classes and it is surprising how much it restricts air flow when I am walking from building to building. On the plus side, it is a great diet tool; as I learned during my cousin's Sweet Superbowl 16, masks cut down on grazing.
Chemo makes me more tired now, as I mentioned before. The weekend after this last one was a bit tough in that regard. Originally, I was supposed to have two tests and two critical response papers due the week after. One test was moved to this Monday because of the Superbowl class cancellation on Monday. One of the papers was moved to this Tuesday because the prof had not returned the previous paper and she wanted us to know how we had done before we turned in another. I don't know what I would have done with all of those things to do. Sleep is great and the easiest way to fight being tired but when work needs to be done, it is hard to shut off my brain and sense of responsibility to my academics. I have been cleared for some light exercise so I am going to try to find time to work that into my routine.
I got my hair cut. No new purple though, trying to decide if my hair would hold the color. Currently my hair is 3 different colors (has a bit of an interesting look to it) and 6 different textures (yay chemo!).
This past weekend was awesome. I went down to Bloomington to see my friends and had a great time. I was able to see people I hadn't seen during my first trip and eat places I hadn't as well. My friend Hanna celebrated her 21st birthday with a party and trip to the bars, don't worry, I stayed out of the germ-filled bars, though Bloomington is more cancer-patient friendly than Indianapolis, all of the bars are smoke free so I could go in them if I wanted, whereas I can't really in Indy. It was also the annual Viennese Ball at Collins LLC (where I lived my first two years on campus and helped to plan those years). We looked mighty fine. More pictures available here!
This week has been rather unexciting since returning from Bloomington. I got my test back from one of my classes- 98%. I took a test and wrote a paper. I also gave out Valentines to my Tuesday classes, I am so sweet ya know. More class tomorrow. Thursday I go in early for my blood draw, followed by chemo #8.
And now I go to bed.
Sleep sweet.
