The rest of week ONE chemotherapy went well, with normal appetite, no nausea, and only one nap. Three days after that first treatment, I woke up noticing multiple mosquito bites on my legs, ankles, and feet. There was no plausible explanation for mosquitoes bites, but I recall sleeping with my legs outside the covers to cool myself. The day before, I had joined my husband, during some yardwork – acting as his lovely assistant. But I wore thick jeans, socks and tennis shoes, so can’t imagine being bitten during that outing. And there were no bites on my uncovered arms. We concluded there must have been a ravenous army of mosquitoes in our room overnight. The next morning, as the day progressed, the itching intensified, even after trying “After Bite”, Tecnu, and hydrocortisone cream. By evening, I popped a Benadryl and tried to sleep with all my appendages covered up. By 3am, I was super hot from all the covers, itching like crazy again, so got up and slathered on more Tecnu and moved to the cooler living room couch and attempted to fall back asleep. By 5am I gave up, grabbed ice packs to apply to the large whelps, swallowed an Allegra with my coffee and attempted to read while settling into a less miserable existence.
While drinking coffee, I GOOGLED “chemo and mosquito bites” and I found several articles stating “reaction from mosquito bites can intensify while on chemotherapy” with the histamine response stronger and the body’s natural antihistamine response hindered. It even had a name – Skeeter Syndrome. Terrific. In addition to minding my gut microbiome, blood counts, immune system, and a multitude of potential side effects from cancer treatments, NOW I also needed to be mindful of the pervasive Texas summertime pest – the mosquito.
While all of this was transpiring, I noticed on my daily health measures chart (see chart below) which I began tracking before treatments, showed one glaring issue. On Thursday, I realized I hadn’t pooped since Tuesday. Having struggled with constipation occasionally, I’d been careful to over-hydrate. Perhaps I had not moved around quite enough, especially during the 5-hour treatment day. I ticked through the list of everything I did each day to care for my digestive system (water, magnesium, yogurt, chia seeds, and berries). By the next day, I threw everything I knew at this new problem (liquid magnesium, more movement, large dose of Miralax). Then it occurred to me that I had started taking Slippery Elm on Sunday before my first chemo, preventatively to stave off potential nausea side effects (effects I wasn’t certain I would experience). Hrmmm. I GOOGLED again and one of the main side effects of Slippery Elm is…constipation. Ugh. Must. Research. Supplements. Better. I happily report that I finally pooped. Lesson Learned: while Slippery Elm might prove useful for some people, I’ll move it into the basket of “as needed” treatments should nausea become a problem.
