Week nine...

... is moving right along.

Side effects are getting a little more creative, like the very gentle eye tic I picked up a couple of weeks ago. Did you know that you can get tics from dehydration and a magnesium deficiency? That was what the oncologist said, at least. I've been drinking water like a fish, but I'd backed off on my usual overconsumption of bananas, so I went back to my Curious George ways. It seems to have helped a little, but the tics aren't totally gone. From what I've been reading on various discussion boards, this is just one of those side effects that some people pick up. It goes away once all of the chemo washes out.

I have to be the only cancer patient out there who has any concern whatsoever about not feeling worse than I do (which isn't that bad). Just about halfway through this entire process, I don't feel like crap 90 percent of the time. Not that I'm upset about it. Honestly, I'm more concerned about the other shoe dropping at some point.

I asked the doc why things seem to be going so well, and she suggested that maybe I'm doing the things that are right for me: drinking plenty of water, taking it easy, knowing my body and reporting problems as they arise. It's not as if I'm running around like a crazy person, but I'm not playing the martyr, either.

Then again, I'm preparing myself for this time next week, when I'll feel tired and achy from the next treatment. And I won't be as chipper as I am right now.