Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

Decadron

It turns out that the steroid they gave me day before yesterday at the start of my chemo treatment has the additional not-very-fun side effect of making a person really moody.

Yesterday I was great — hugely productive. I did all kinds of stuff. It would have been a full day even had I been in the best of health. This morning, though, I woke up feeling blue and since then my mood has been all over the place. I was telling my friend Carol a funny story about something the dog did and then I suddenly had such a strong wave of sadness that I nearly burst into tears.

If you don’t know me well, let me just tell you that I’m not a “burst into tears” kind of person.

Later in the morning, my portable chemo pump began beeping (indicating that it was time to get it disconnected) so I headed over to the clinic. They had told me (on Monday when I got hooked up) that the receptionists know to get someone to take care of us right away when we come in for a disconnect. Yeah, sure. It was 45 minutes before someone finally took me back to disconnect me. Normally this wouldn’t have been that big a deal for me. I had no other plans for the morning and I’m generally a patient and easy-going sort. This time, though, I was alternating between being really pissed off and (again) nearly in tears.

When I finally got in to see the nurse and had a chance to tell her that I was having a “bad morning”, she explained about this common side effect of Decadron. (A woman getting chemo in the next chair confirmed it, too.) So… something else unpleasant to look forward to.

Like I don’t have enough to bum me out without getting a little help in feeling depressed from the drugs that are supposed to be fixing me.

Ah well… maybe this will wear off relatively soon so my 2-weeks between treatments won’t be totally depressing.