Erika's Treatment Update -- Week 59

Chris and I have fully recovered from the 1/2 marathon we did this past Sunday. My back has actually not been bothering me as much as I would have expected considering the excrutiating pain I was in during the event. I've been going to see a sports massage therapist all week, as well as doing some core strenghtening exercises, icing, and resting. I'm going to suggest being referred to a physical therapist when I see my oncologist next Wednesday so that we can speed up the healing process. I don't want to delay training for the Nike marathon coming up in October.

The last few days I've been feeling extremely exhausted. Instead of my usual going to bed at 1am and being awake from 3-6am, I've been taking several naps a day and falling asleep by 11pm. I started another round of prednisone tapering on Monday (20mg one day, 10mg the next, etc...) so I have a feeling that could be contributing to the exhaustion. I had a low grade fever this morning (I haven't had a fever not related to chemo in a long time), which I'm hoping is also being caused by the tapering. I've also been getting a lot of "hot flashes" during the day and minor night sweats at night which tends to happen when I taper (due to the hormonal changes). I'm hoping these symptoms subside, if not, I may have to stay on a 20mg dose indefinitely.

I'll be back at Stanford this coming Wednesday for my 10th round of Velban.