Round 5 of 6 / Day 10 of 21
Sleep: woke at 2 AM and laid there until 4:15. Reminded myself that I am the “CEO of this cancer experience” and got up to GET STUFF DONE.
Whoop Score: 48% recovery despite a physically strenuous day prior and 94% sleep performance. Sleep debt down to 21 minutes. Still- this means I focus on recovery today- walk, yoga, meditation.
Body Scan: slight mouth soreness, but I haven’t used any Helios in a day. A good reminder that the stuff really works. Took a Pepcid and a Compazine at 4:30 in the morning to stave off any nausea. (Note: why is nausea so hard to spell?) Despite all that, today is the first day since my infusion that coffee tastes good again. Phew!
On my mind: I am wondering if I can start using my infrared sauna again during recovery after chemo is finished. There’s very little data out when you google it- other than articles that basically say “saunas are nice” or general studies unrelated to cancer recovery, or things written by sauna companies. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those cancer questions with no good answers. Questions for which my oncologist won’t have any protocols to refer to and so can’t answer, and to which the Integrative Medicine doctor will tell me that “it’s probably best not to.” I don’t want to do something that will harm my recovery. In fact my desire to add sauna time would be to aid in healing. But I find that in oncology, sometimes the lack of a certain proof means you get a “no don’t do that” even when common sense tells you it just may be a lack of documented positive studies.
Fun Fact: over the course of the last few rounds, I have found it really hard to drink water. Normally I drink a ton of water and carry my water bottle everywhere. In fact, if I had to be a superhero, it would be Super Hydrator. But it’s so true that chemo changes your taste buds, and I will say that adding a packet of LMNT electrolytes has been the best way to stay hydrated and actually enjoy drinking my water.
