Chemo: Taxol
Treatment: #6 of 12 of Taxol
Companion: None
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Chemo has become such a regular routine and the Taxol is so much easier on my system than the Adriamycin/Cytoxin, that I decided to go to chemo alone today. I scheduled my next few chemo appointments later in the day so I can be in the office in the morning, and David is only available to accompany me if chemo concludes by 4 p.m., so today I decided to go solo. Don’t get me wrong, there are many people who have offered to accompany me to chemo, but today I felt like going alone.
It worked out well, given that the chemo itself was pretty uneventful. I continued doing a ton of work while receiving chemo, which made the nurses (and anyone else walking by my treatment room) raise an eyebrow, but with no one with me today, it just felt like the thing to do. Late afternoon TV programming is not as entertaining as daytime programming.
This experience has taught me that I probably should have someone with me during chemo to distract me and save me from my tendency to fill my free time with work. I recently had an interaction with opposing counsel in one of my cases regarding why I’ve been out of the office every Monday. This attorney has been very pleasant with me throughout this case and we’ve worked pretty closely over the last year, so I shared with him that I have breast cancer. His response was very sincere and empathetic, but I also sensed a bit of surprise. I haven’t really put the brakes on at work since starting chemo, so I can see it being a surprise to my colleagues who don’t see me every day that I’m battling cancer right now.
Although my situation at work really sucks since I can’t take off any significant amount of time off, I feel like I have become a much tougher cookie than I thought I could be by having to work full time and fight Karla at the same time. Add to that the fact that I ended my relationship with Alex shortly after receiving my diagnosis. There have been moments where I really feel alone. The solitude is sometimes unpleasant, but it definitely makes me stronger as an individual and builds my resolve to prevail in my battle with Karla. In this context, my increased “alone time” has been very useful.
Despite this, I think I’m done with solo chemo treatments for a while. Chemo is much more “fun” with a buddy.
