just finished up my third cycle of chemo on friday, and this weekend was my first really really rough encounter with nausea/vomiting/diarrhea since i started treatment. i've been fortunate so far, because cisplatin (the chemo they use for testicular cancer) is supposed to be one of the roughest ones in those regards. lots of antiemetic pills and medical marijuana have saved me up til this point. but holy shit, i can't even imagine going through this 10-20 years ago before they really knew how to treat the side effects of this stuff... three straight months of feeling like this and i really think i might put a bullet in my skull first.
finally as of this morning feeling like i can actually function a little bit. didn't eat for about 48 hours there, managed to get down 5 chicken nuggets this morning without puking them back up.
check your balls for lumps on a regular basis, kids, and if you find one take it seriously. if i had gone to the doctor when i first noticed the bump, instead of hoping it would go away, i would still have both testicles and would have just had to get some light radiation therapy.
my fourth/final cycle starts on may 9th. the docs say that this cycle was worse for me because the chemo is starting to build up to higher levels.... so yeah, fourth cycle should be even worse. still, i need to consider myself fortunate, because i see a whole lot of people at the infusion clinic having a way worse time than i am... (helps that most days i'm the youngest patient there, but still...)