Cynde continues to battle a cough and the remnants of a cold, and she would really, really like to feel better. So here is a reminder of what cancer cannot invade, shatter, silence, suppress……

Stupid cancer.

And along the way, we are learning some things.

We learned that the little Med Fairy that attached herself to Cynde’s arm and flew away 72 hours later has the potential to be quite disruptive.

Unbeknownst to us.

If you remember my last post, the Med Fairy was there to inject a drug that stimulates white blood cell production. Chemo can wreak havoc on your immune system, so white blood cells are needed, wanted and celebrated.

But the matter of HOW this little fairy stimulates that production—and the potential side effects—was never really discussed.

This is not the Med Fairy’s fault. She was just doing her Med Fairy job.

And I don’t want to blame anyone on Cynde’s care team.

But perhaps this is a learning moment.

Perhaps.

White blood cells are produced deep within the marrow of your bones. After Cynde got her poke from the Med Fairy, she said:

“It feels like there is an electric shock going through my bones. It is scary and painful.”

Well.

Neither scary nor painful sounds particularly good.

“How are you feeling?”

“I am scared and in pain.”

No bueno.

Turns out, the Med Fairy was doing exactly what she was supposed to do. The medication was stimulating white blood cell production, which again, are produced deep in your bones.

And what we didn’t know was that significant bone pain can happen with these medications.

Or—perhaps more importantly—that there are things her care team may recommend to help manage it, including, in some cases, Claritin.

A couple of days later, her electric bones stopped firing.

And her white blood cell count was great.

BUT…

The process might not have been quite so scary—or felt quite so overwhelming—if we had been armed with a little more knowledge about what might happen.

Because pain is one thing.

Pain you weren’t expecting, when you already have cancer, is something else entirely.

Expectations are hard on this journey.

And maybe I’ll just leave that here.

Approximately ten more days until the next round.

Beware, little Med Fairy.

We got your number…..and A LOT of Claritin.