Post #41: Small relapse this afternoon

Hello all,

Unfortunately today Anita is not feeling too well. The nausea of this morning is gone, but she has developed a bad stomach ache and what feels like swollen lips - like she has cold sores. She still has some pain in her chest area over her heart. She seems to be alternating between feeling "shivery and cold" and then "too warm." In general, she says she feels lousy. She no sooner gets up than she wants to go back to bed. The good note in all this is that she has no shortness of breath and she is still alert. John gave her a new pain patch about 45 minutes ago and she took a couple of swallows of Mylanta.

So far today, following the orange juice episode this morning, she has eaten a hard boiled egg, saltine crackers and milk, a few pieces of apple and a couple of slices of cheddar cheese and taken her vitamins. A few minutes ago she had some strawberry jello with whipped cream. She is trying to drink plenty of water.

What it seems, to me as well as to her, is that the Rituxan is kicking in along with the latest chemo treatment. It is also fairly certain that she really overdid yesterday. She says that she felt so good yesterday, and coupled with her unflagging energy, she did go overboard. I think the "feeling lousy" is all part of the healing process. Nasty things in her are being destroyed, so of course at some point she is going to feel awful. We were fortunate that she had two days of respite Saturday and Sunday. So we are keeping steady watch today and I will keep you all informed with the latest as the evening progresses.

Melissa