Mystery solved? Keep your fingers crossed!

This round of chemo seemed to be very easy. Normally, I get 5-6 days of extreme fatigue, nauseousness and vomiting (which is generall managed with anti-emetics). I then get 2-3 "good" days and then, unfortunately, I get sick again for another 4 days or so (see these posts http://bump-on-the-road.blogspot.com/2006/12/too-soon.html and http://bump-on-the-road.blogspot.com/2007/01/arrgghh-can-i-whine.html). It was very frustrating to say the least as I was ending up being sick for almost 2 weeks.

This past round was easier: I had 5 days at the beginning of extreme fatigue (i.e. sleeping between 18 and 20 hours a day) and generally not feeling great. BUT... I was not nauseous and did not throw up at all. But more importantly... with this round, I had no second bout of sickness... NONE! I just had the 5 days of feeling lousy and have been fine since then. I am tired, but that's OK. I'm just thrilled I wasn't sick for another week!

It seems that perhaps the answer is due to my digestive system. It appears this chemo slows my digestive system down a lot. So when I started feeling good again, I would start eating again and this would lead me to being sick as my system was not able to process the food. So now the doctor has prescribed some medication that I take with meals and at bedtime to help my system move things along better. I think this is the answer as I haven't had any nauseousness or any of the feelings I normally get. I used to get feelings of being very full after a few bites, or feeling that I couldn't even swallow my food as there seemed to be "no room" down there. So keep your fingers crossed! If this is the answer, my chemo regimen has now become bearable again!