Day 17 Second Chemo Round - General Anxiety and My Allergy Test

I didn't sleep well last night. I awoke at 1:00 with some anxiety. I was worrying about the upcoming chemo round which will take place next Friday, September 29. I was also worrying about the neupogen that will stimulate the release of the stem cells into my blood stream to help the doctor successfully collect 2.5 million stems cells from me for transplant. However, neupogen has side effects that don't look like very much fun. I handle and soothe my anxiety by reading, knitting and doing Sudokus and Crosswords. So there I was at 3:00-4:30 this morning knitting away on my afghan. The rhythmic act of knitting and following the pattern keep my mind occupied and soothed. I went back to bed at 4:30 because I was cold and tired. I never did go back to sleep and found that I was dragging and tired by late afternoon today. Thank goodness I didn't have much to do today.

I had my Penicillin allergy test this morning at 9:30. The various tests went until 11:30. I passed them all. They all showed negative to be me being allergic to penicillin. So this meant I had to return to the Allergy Clinic at 1:30 this afternoon to continue the test. I was there from 1:30-3:30 this afternoon. The final verdict is that I am not allergic to penicillin. This is good news as it give Dr. Bhella (my stem cell doctor) another tool to help fight infections if I have any in the stem cell process.

Between 11:30 this morning and 1:30 this afternoon, I walked down to our Farmer's Market and bought some fresh vegetables. On my walk back to hubby's office, I ran into a friend and it was good to briefly catch up with each other. It was getting hot out and I continued on my way to hubby's office. I left the fresh produce in his office while we then walked to a local restaurant for lunch.

After I was finished at the Allergy Clinic this afternoon, hubby came and picked me up. I dropped him off at work and continued on my way home to put the fresh produce away. Then I drove back to his work to pick him up. Our plan was to go grocery shopping together tonight. After dinner, I realized that I have run out of energy and so I sent hubby on his way with the grocery list. It will be an early night for me as I need to catch up on my sleep. When I'm overtired, I start to feel nauseous again. It's important for me to feel rested and not over do things. Hence, hubby is on his own with the groceries tonight.

I must say that I ran into a volunteer at the Hotel Dieu that used to work with me in the Tuck Shop at KGH. She still volunteers there but I don't see her very often since I'm on sick leave. It was nice to see her this morning.