Post #42: Still Under the Weather

Good evening all,

It has been one of those "down" days in the up-and-down cycle we can expect in the course of chemotherapy and Rituxan treatment. She had a great two days post-Rituxan, and then today the combined effects of Rituxan and the chemo and her overachieving energy levels caught up with her. She has spent the balance of the day in bed, not eating much, and not feeling very well. I am hopeful that tomorrow she will be better.

However, I just got interrupted in this email by her getting up to wish me good night (around 9:00 p.m.) and then she got sick again. Clearly there is a process going on here. Tonight, we will wait and see what happens. Overall, she is very much improved and continues to improve. I think today is just one of the low points that only leads to the next high point. And this "low" is much, much better than how she was back in early June. However, John and I are staying very alert to the possibility of any truly new or increased negative symptoms which would merit prompt medical attention.

So, in the morning, I expect to be posting an update by 9:30 -10:00 a.m. or so after I've had a chance to see how she's doing. Although she feels a bit discouraged - we had two of her dear friends over for dinner tonight and she just didn't have the energy to be out of bed for very long - I think her discouragement is more due to her frustration at not being able to participate in the evening after looking forward to it for the past couple of days and especially since it followed an amazingly energetic day yesterday as well as her impatience with being ill at all!

So, here's to a more feel-good day for Anita tomorrow!!

Melissa