Recovery cardigan complete!

I'm somewhat worried about posting a post-chemo update, as I fear that doing so will bring on ALL THE SIDE EFFECTS as soon as I mention that I really haven't had many.  But here goes with the jinx...

Overall, I've been amazingly pleasantly surprised at how little I've been affected so far.  I do know that the effects build and so it's not like I will sail through this, but so far, so good.

I had that nagging sinus-y headache that started during the cytoxan infusion and lasted through most of the next day.  But I took some Advil and that brought it under control.  (Also realized I probably should not be taking Advil when I'm on so many things that decrease my blood counts--will try Tylenol next time)

The Claritin seems to be helping me to avoid bone pain following the Neulasta shot, too.  It's pretty impressive, actually.

I've been kinda tired, but also had trouble sleeping.  The first night I woke up every hour until I gave up and got "up" at 4:00 am.  The next two nights I was really tired after work and didn't have much energy to do anything that required brain power, but I had a tough time falling asleep.  Last night I felt wired at bedtime (maybe because I took the steroid a little later?) but once I fell asleep, I slept through till 5:30 with no waking.

I've had a little nausea-kinda stuff, but not bad, and honestly I think it's because of all the other meds I'm taking to avoid side effects.  It's not been the icky, pukey nausea--just gurgly tummy, which is easily manageable.

Really, the worse thing I've noticed is that I just feel kinda fuzzy--like it takes my brain awhile longer to process things, and I'm struggling for some words.  Seems a bit early for chemo brain to kick in, so I'm thinking it might be some combination of the meds.  I finished the steroids this afternoon and only two more days of the Zofran, so hope to have things cleared out and back to normal soon.  

I'm also up to 32 medical appointments since November 25th.  And the bills are all coming in--so thankful that our insurance (at least so far) seems to be very good about covering things.  No doubt we'll hit our deductible for both 2014 and 2015.

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I was thrilled to have temps in the 40's today, combined with the clearance to run again, and desire to get some energy, so I went for my first post-surgery run.  The last time I'd run was 1/7/15 so it was exactly 2 months since then.  I only made it 2 miles and didn't run the entire time (at least 75% of it, though) and it took me almost 27 minutes, but it FELT GREAT!

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BUT the main reason for this post is to share that my recovery cardigan is DONE!!!  Despite the glitch of running out of Cilantro yarn, and not knowing how to seam the striped parts (thanks to my friend Emily who showed me the amazing mattress stitch--wow!), I was able to finish this week and have spent an inordinate amount of time weaving in ends.  I still want to block it so that the collar lies a bit better.  It weighs a ton (3.6 lbs.) and is super thick and warm, so you can all thank me for bringing the warm temps to Wisconsin (but please don't blame me for not completing it sooner).    Greg sings songs from "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" whenever he sees it...