May 12, 2025 – Chemo Side Effects

Now that I’ve had my second treatment, I have some experience to relate.  I am being hit by several side effects:

1.  Fatigue - I definitely feel tired much of the time.  I spend a lot of time in bed sleeping.  My fatigue is just making me want to go to bed much of the day.  I have no ambition.

2.   Nausea – In the morning I feel slightly nauseous.  I take one of the anti-nausea pills and am pretty much okay for the rest of the day.

3.    Rash - I have a rash covering my leg about 8” in diameter.  It started with one small pimple at a time.  It itches, I scratch, and I then have a little open sore.  Soon after the skin has been broken the itching goes away.  The patch is growing very slowly. I also have some random spots on my arms.

4.    Neuropathy – This is not new for me since I have it off and on occasionally ever since Docetaxel.  The difference is that for some reason some of the jabs are in my groin area (which I definitely don’t need).  Most are in my legs and feet.  I would say I get the jabs at a rate of eight per hour, mostly at night time when I am trying to sleep. The best thing for this has been to take a Tylenol when it is bothering me most.  This deadens the jabs.

5.    Chest tightness – This is not a major tightness that concerns me more than a little.  I just feel a small difference in my ability to breathe.  Taking Alka Seltzer helps this, so it may be due to heartburn, which I don’t normally have.

6.    Morning sweats – I often wake up sweating in the mornings.  I am also running a temperature about one degree less than my normal 97.3 degrees, so I am often chilly during the day.  This is new so I tie it to the chemo.

Sleeping is still a challenge.  My body signals me every hour to get up and pee.  It is good when I do get up because I have to change incontinent underwear less often.  I have been known to last the whole night with only one pair, even when I miss a notification or two.  Thankfully I am able to get back to sleep pretty quickly.

Aside from all of this, I think I have beaten the UTI and my groin area is slowly healing from its intense rash.  During the day I can go without the catcher’s cup.  I need it at night because the nighttime underwear is scratchy.  Going without the cup is a lot more comfortable and allows the daytime underwear to work most effectively.  That said, I need to submit a urine sample to be sure e.Coli is bye-bye.

Doing better…

I may even do some podcast editing and cookie delivering today!  

Les