Chemo Days 4 and 5

Dear blog,

Day 4 (or third day after treatment) was the worst for me. I had mouth pain develop on day 3 that made me dread even taking a drink of water. It got worse on day 4 and is still present now. I treated it with the ten pound box o' packets' "salt water rinse" and "absurdly frequent tooth brushing". I mean, these guys were talking 'after every meal'! Anywhat, the salt water, while disgusting, had some soothing effect after eating or drinking, but that didn't change the fact that it was so hard to start. The worst pain is in the first few bites or sips, when salivation is activated. I found that this is common in forums online. For some folks, the symptoms only lasted days or a few cycles. I really hope the same is true for me.

I managed to get out of the apartment only once yesterday, to go to an arranged study session. I was able to think clearly, realize why the math made sense, but it wore me out extremely fast. In about 45 minutes I was feeling very sick and didn't get much done after that. I took a long nap and then watched TV for the rest of the day, until reading time.

Today I feel less fatigued and nauseous, though I actually took an anti-nausea early in the morning today, which might have been a good move yesterday. I was able to get down some Arby's chicken sandwiches which I had a coupon for and do normal stuff without great difficulty. I still took a 2 hour nap after getting some fun mail. 4 pieces of mail from the insurance.
The Good News: They processed my claims and they're not denying them!
The Bad News: I have copays and they are no longer an ethereal, in-the-future thing. 16 separate claims with 'student balances' running from 10 to 1500 dollars. That's after more than 80% was paid on each claim. I didn't manage to do a total before I decided sleep was a better idea, and now I'm writing this.

I would like to say, I don't feel better. I feel less bad. Something about a cold and feeling better, you expect a total cessation of symptoms in the near future when you feel better. I expect the symptoms to get slightly less until they get seriously worse again, and so on, for six months. Then, I will feel better.

5 down, 79 to go,
Ian Hogan.