A Little Dose’ll Do You

Or at least I hope so. And honestly, I believe so.

While on vacation I drastically lowered my dose of Lynparza to just 100 mg a day, taken before bed. My energy level soared. But then I came home, went back on my 400 a day and despite getting a great night’s sleep, by 10 am I was ready for a nap.

So with a CA-125 of 9 (yay!) I went to see my oncologist today ready to discuss lowering my dose, but before I could even bring it up, she did. We discussed the fact that no one really knows what the best dose of Lynparza is, but she feels it is so effective I could look at lowering my dose. She suggested 100 mg in the morning and 200 at night. I readily agreed.

We also discussed my weight gain. While I had gained quite a bit of weight pre-diagnosis, I am still tipping the scales at close to 20 pounds more than before the tumors started to make me look like I was six months pregnant.

I know from years of being a Weight Watchers lifetime member the only way I lose weight and keep it off is through exercise. When I was bicycling, I could eat whatever I wanted. I even kept a blog, Riding to Eat. But lately, I dread walking from the second floor to the fourth floor of my house. Two floors and I have to lie down.

So today is the start of a new... a new what? My hope is a new person with more energy to get up to that fourth floor and ride my bike that is on a wind trainer. A new person who doesn’t need to nap every day.

I’ve said it before— I am a big fan of the placebo effect, so my guess is in a day or two I will have more energy. Oh, there is no question that Lynparza causes fatigue, but I think lowering the dose will also have an effect on that part of my brain that anticipates fatigue.

What it will NOT do is have an effect on the part of my brain that is optimistic about my future. I believe that the lower dose of Lynparza will continue to keep me cancer free. I have big plans for travel this spring, and I will get bloodwork before I leave, confident that everything will continue to look great.

Don’t get me wrong; a day does not go by that I don’t think about the cancer and the possibility that it could very well return. But I don’t dwell on it. Right now, what I would like to dwell on is a new me with more energy to enjoy my already pretty great life even more!

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