Sleepy & Dopey

I used to think sleep is over-rated. I have always been a late nighter, from my early days of working shift work, night shifts. I remember playing cards on night shift and scoffing at those idiots sleeping under the desk, getting in their power naps. Who needs it?

But now, I need it, I really need it, and when I cant or don't get it, its a problem. It has so much effect on this deteriorating body of mine, and this foggy haze I continually live in, sleepy and dopey, and maybe a little bit grumpy too. There's 3 of the 7 dwarfs, I'll work on the others.

I had my big day on Monday, my all day infusion. Wore my new Hawaiian shirt, looked awesome (thanks Barb and Dags, my sartorial eloquence is unsurpassed. I even had a couple of the chemo nurses doing a hula dance, how good is that).

From my early reaction to the Erbitux they knock me out with Phenergan and a mix of a few other things. It washes me out for a few days and really messes with my sleep patterns. I sleep right through the infusion, and they wake me to go home. I get home and continue dozing, the mix of the weed killers and the phenergan weighing me down pretty well. So then over the next few days its trying to get through the phenergan and chemo haze and get back to the normal night sleeping rather than going from the sleep-wake-sleep-wake with no regular timing.

This week with the help of a sleeping pill (never taken sleeping pills before this started), and it seemed to work. Woke up this morning feeling pretty refreshed, closer to normal than I usually am on day 3. This regime in general has been tougher than the last, but hey, I'm still here, that's gotta count for something.

Some good news this week, the cancer markers that indicate the activity of the cancer were way down this week, lower than they have been since we started taking the bloods. That's good, very good. The caveat is that these markers are not always reliable, lots of things can affect them. But its an indicator right, and I just have to wait till my next scan mid April to see if the indicators come through for me.

I'm hopeful, I'm working hard for it so should get a result for this hard work I reckon.  Don't you?
Although I am still washed out, working through the fatigue and nausea, I know that tomorrow is always another day.
Trev.