The Tough Row to Hoe

The first week of Gemzar was tough. Nausea went away but fatigue left Karen with zero energy for the week.  Does the effectiveness of a chemo drug correlate with tough side effects? We don't know; and we won't know until a few months of it's use pass and we can do another scan. If that's even possible. Karen's platelet count was too low to do a treatment this week.
We'll give this another week; do another blood panel and see what happens.
In the good news department, on the sixth day after the Gemzar she felt well enough for an outing and we spent the afternoon at an art exhibit in West Hartford. It's frustrating to remember that last year we were able to do a six day swing through New England to catch all the fall colors. This year we seem to content ourselves with watching them change closer to home.
Still we have our fingers crossed because sometimes the first dose is the worst and the body is better able to tolerate it with time. Or perhaps it was too soon after her last bout of radiation treatments for the hip; which thankfully seems marginally better pain wise.

Photo. Karen E. - card from former workmates to brighten the spirit!  

---