Third Chemo Week Now Have a Cold

Had blood work again just before the treatment and saw the doctor. Counts were down again and he wasn't as pleased that they are bouncing like that. Neutrophils that fight infection are getting lower and that may be why I have caught a cold yesterday. Nose and chest. He said we may have to do all six rounds to try to get the numbers to even out and hold steady. WBC was in the normal range, but lymphocyte percentage up. We discussed my not sleeping on Prednisone and discussed the Benadryl along with 3 mg of Melatonin. He offered a sleeping pill but I told him I wanted to try this first. The chemo infusion went without a hitch. No reactions. Started about 9 a.m. with five different bags of stuff. First Tylenol pills, then Benadryl infusion that makes me go to la-la land, then the big bag of Rituxan (my mouse parts), then a bag of steroids, then a bag of anti-nausea medicine, all followed by my bag of Cytoxan chaser. A bag of Saline was going steady the whole time. At least it all goes through my portacath in my upper chest, so I didn't have to get re-stuck each time. We were done a little after 2 in the afternoon. Nothing like the fresh smell of chemo in the morning. Well Monday night I got 1 hour of sleep finally at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning. Tuesday night I got two hours sleep starting at 3:30 a.m. I went to work. So yesterday I called and asked for a prescription. He gave me Ambien that is supposedly strong and works quick. My cold started coming on in the afternoon. I took the Ambien at 10 p.m. and went straight to bed. I was awake until after 1 a.m. and then woke up at 5:15. At least I got four hours sleep. I got up to get ready for work, but it was like I was in a fog and was very slow going. I finally got to work after 8 a.m. I am usually there at 7 a.m. Tonight I took it at 9 p.m and am waiting for it to kick in. It is now midnight and I am feeling nothing. Oh well. I did get some medicine to maybe help the cold. Now taking at least 24 pills a day this week, counting 8 pills of Prednisone, two anti-nausea a day, cold pills dissolved in mouth every thee hours, stomach pills, 2 heart pills, blood pressure pills, two kinds of cholesterol pills (3 pills), a fish oil pill for a different cholesterol, Benadryl, and then shoot up with insulin before meals. Now the sleeping pill. Tough to remember them all. Mom always said I was a pill growing up. Hmmm, wonder why I feel kind of drugged? ('Enter' key not working on the keyboard, so can't make paragraphs????) I did get permission to work from home on a course I am writing while I am doing the chemo. That will help. I should be able to get more done and then cat nap when I can. I think this will help. Please pray that I will start sleeping better and pep up and get back to my jolly old self. Thanks. Going to bed now and wait for the sandman to arrive. Hope he knows my address, we moved 10 years ago.