new chemo report and the fine art of napping

Yesterday's chemo treatment (a day later than usual due to the holiday) went well, despite some initial delays in the lab in the morning. I had lots of extra company (see picture) and even got into a pretty in-depth conversation with the nurse Amber, who had a lot in common with my friend Karen who was with me. Apart from a couple of foot cramps during the treatment (something I am subject to anyway and not something the medical crew was worried about) I seem to be tolerating the Taxol fine (they worry about an allergic reaction the first two treatments so do it in a hospital bed in a bay with a door, rather than a chair with just a curtain -- thus the railing in the picture between me & my company. 

I felt a quite gassy and a little queasy last night but the meds helped and I actually woke up feeling a pretty normal early-morning hunger, and no stomach distress since eating breakfast. This makes me pretty optimistic that weeks 2 & 3 of this new cycle I'll be on for 12 weeks may be fairly easy to tolerate.

I will likely still be having fatigue and need naps... but that's a tried & true tradition in my family. My mother took a nap nearly every day of her adult life, I think, though I'm not sure she pulled it off during the periods she worked full time -- she used to post a scribbled sign on the door saying "Child, etc. sleeping, please do not disturb," and kept doing it even after we were too old to nap. Our friend & Rabbi, Alan Kensky, one year as a gift commissioned two special hanging signs from the guy who made the "Parking Reserved for Rabbi" signs at the synagogue. They were painted metal and read "Child, etc., sleeping, please do not disturb," and "Vacuuming, cleaning, etc., please knock & ring." Though my mom was a clean freak I don't think we used the 2nd sign that much -- at least not compared to the napping one. She would call down to us to ask us to put the sign on the door, and I knew I had to keep the TV to an almost-inaudible-to-me level (before the days of headphones). 

These days, we don't get too many people coming to our door, though if I had that sign I might use it just for the nostalgia of it. I do put my phone on do not disturb (mom had to take ours off the hook and put it in a drawer to not hear the warning-phone-is-off-the-hook noise). Don & I also frequently listen to John Kabat-Zinn's guided body scan to assist our naps, and it's so reliable we've nicknamed it "The sleeping tape," which is pretty funny because he says in it, "It's best if you can try to stay awake during the whole duration of the tape." The great thing about ignoring that instruction is that you can really tell how long you've slept, by whether you remember the left knee or not, the right toe, etc. I highly recommend it!