4 of 8 DONE! Halfway there! The RBC counts that delayed me a week are still not within normal range but the doctor said the iron doses from last week are definitely working on raising the counts, so she declared me good to go today with Chemo round 4 of 8.

The iron/RBC count surprised me. I was only boosted from 8 to 9+. Based on the rise in my energy level, I'd have thought I was much closer to the 11-14 normal range. I'm kinda pleased in a way though. If 8 to 9+ made me feel so damn much better, imagine how good I'll feel as it pushes to 11? Yeah, baby. I also got another EPO shot to prompt bone marrow production of RBCs. So, we're really trying to catch that up and keep it there, RBCs and energy.

Fever & chills discussion ensued. I was sweating off a fever even as I walked into the CTC. Once again noted similarities to when I was in hospital after the big surgery. Surely the fevers are related to the mouth sores as one seems to follow the other. SO, I'm on Diflucan (antifungal) again for that. Hopefully that kills the root cause and all the fevers go away as well as any chance of the mouth sores returning.

The hip pain is unexplained. We tossed around ideas but they really didn't fly. I now have in my hands an order for an xray, which I will probably get done on Friday when I go in to have the 5FU pack unhooked. If that shows nothing and my hip still hurts, they'll order a bone scan (presuming CT type scan, you know, where they pass a cat over you and let its whiskers reveal.... okay maybe not ;)

Would be nice if somehow the hip bone/muscular pain is actually something deeper, like in the connection between small and large intestine, defenses having been weakened by the takedown surgery or something like that; like if a fungal whatsit developed there, and thus the Diflucan quashes that sob and fixes me right up - no fevers, no mouth sores, no hip hobbling. I like that scenario. Let's do that. I should know within a week if that was it or not.

I don't recall hip pain being related to the fever and mouth biz when I was in the hospital, but then, my entire abdominal region had been shaken and stirred (:P to 007) and ultimately reconfigured so it would have been hard to sort out a particular area that was in more trouble than the rest. (Plus, morphine was very good at taking all of that area off my radar ;)

The cold effects returned immediately after I got the oxalipatin today. In the shuffle over all the other issues, we all forgot to toss calcium and magnesium into the cocktail again. This has given me the opportunity to say "Yes, the calcium and magnesium definitely mitigate the cold effects." It's not so bad that I can't deal with it this time, I had that break and all. But we're gonna use it with the remaining 4 treatments, even if I have to write it on my tingling fingers and toes and lips... so we all remember it. :)

Halfway! Half done! I am chuffed ;)