July 26, 2009
Insomnia and Hot Flashes
Insomnia is just another side effect of chemotherapy, but it is one that has not bothered me too much until last Thursday night. Let me give you the time line leading up to this horrible bout of sleeplessness on Thursday night.
It has been hot here in Portland the last few days, but cools off considerably during the evenings. During the summers, I usually wake up early anyway and this month has been no exception. I enjoy rising early and getting things done before it get too hot and I am worn out. Well, my energy level has started to increase, especially this last two weeks, so I have been able to do more things. And the things that I have been doing are not just the “getting through the day” necessities, but are additional items that have been begging me to do them.
I knew that I would be wanting to cook and with this heat wave, I knew I needed to get cooking early. I assembled and cooked the Mexican Enchilada Casserole before 9:00 am so the house wouldn’t get too hot. And while I had the oven on, I made a batch of Almond Roca Bars. All that was finished before 10:00 am.
My car had not been washed in over a month and was very dirty. Why not take it through the car wash, you ask? Well, here is the reason my car had to be hand washed…. One day while driving to chemotherapy, the jerk in front of me threw his gum out the window. It bounced on the hot pavement and rolled along the entire bottom edge of my shiny black car, sticking to the black paint as only hot gum can. I knew that it would take a special remover to remove the line of gum and I just had not been feeling well enough to get down on my hands and knees and rub the gum off of the paint safely. Add to that the fact that when I returned home from Chemotherapy that day, I tried to “wipe off” the gum with a Kleenex! Dumb move … I can only attribute that to my chemo brain because I knew what was going to happen before I rubbed the Kleenex on the gum, but I did it anyway!
Well, anyway early Wednesday morning, I got the Goop and paper towels and my garden kneeling pad and started removing the gum. It went well and I thought I got it all off but I didn’t as I would discover later. Any way after removing the gum, I got a bunch of quarters out of the bottom of my purse, grabbed my sham-wow shammies and headed to the do it yourself car wash. I spent an hour reacquainting myself with every nook and cranny of my beautiful car. It was while I was wiping down my car later that I discovered that the gum had crossed under the car and messed up the other side of the car also! It was a good feeling to be able to do such a mundane task. My reward was Enchilada Casserole for lunch and then off to the Grocery store after a load of laundry got hung on the line.
That was just the beginning. Thursday morning I woke up early again wanting to get the rest if the laundry done. Then by 9:00 am I am getting the lawn mower out and since my kind neighbor did some repair work on it, it starts right up on the first try. I haven’t felt well enough to even think about mowing the lawn much less try to get started since late last year sometime. It takes me twice as long as it used to but I am finished mowing the small lawn before the novelty of working in the yard has worn off. But then I decide that I ‘d better water the lawn before it gets too sunny.
I am having a great time because I am feeling good and then I remember that I have to go to Chemotherapy today! So I get cleaned up, vacuum the house and head off to chemo.
With all the drugs I am given during a chemotherapy session, I never know if I’ll be energized or wiped out. This time I was wiped out. I had to struggle to stay awake on the drive home and since it was 4:00 pm, I was a bit hungry. Time for more Mexican Casserole with the news! I went to the computer to write , but couldn’t keep my eyes open. So at 8:00 pm, I was fast asleep. But…not for long !
I woke up and went to get a drink of water. Hot flashes are also another side effect of Chemo and I was enjoying one of those as well. When I looked at the clock, I was surprised to see that it was only midnight. Surely it must be later than that. I tried to go back to sleep, but, 30 restless minutes later, I got up and read part of a book. Then I started watching “really late night TV”. I thought for sure that would put me to sleep, but it didn’t. Did you know that the 8:00 o-clock and 11:00 o-clock news broadcasts are repeated in the middle of the night? I didn’t either. There was an interesting movie on the THIS channel. And don’t forget all the infomercials…. You can chop this, fry that, blend this, juice that, take care of your acne with more than one product and pull the dents out of your own car! About 4:00 am I finally gave up and tried to go back to sleep. By 8:00 am I realize that sleep is not for me and I get up and somehow get through the day.
Friday night I slept really well.
