Exsnausted

Yawn. 

I am so tired. I'm sleeping 11 hours a night and still feel like I need a nap. Any little bit of exertion is enough to totally exhaust me and usually make me nauseous. I went to the gym and did five minutes on the elliptical. I thought I was going to have a simultaneous heart attack and vomit session. I played it cool, slinking off the machine and pretending like I was just doing short intervals and heading to the activity room, but instead ducked out down the back stairs.

Come to find out after bloodwork yesterday, I'm pretty anemic. A normal woman's hematocrit is supposed to be in the 37 to 51 percent range. I am at 29%. Not enough for a red blood cell transfusion, but enough to make me feel lousy. This means that oxygen isn't being efficiently carried around my body, hence the heavy eyelids and tired heart.

Tonight, we're going out with friends for delicioso 100% verified humane burgers. My hope is to get an iron kick to get me through the weekend. I have lots of writing to do and ornaments to put away.

Adding to the exhaustion is my PET Scan Wednesday. Thinking about that naturally makes me want to curl up in a ball anyway; it's just too much. To stop thinking about it, Sam Dog and I went for a walk at the park. The snow we had to trudge through made it doubly exhausting. I got home a sweaty mess, but it felt good to be a little active.

There is a lot of work going on in my body - hopefully it's on the winning side of the battle this time. Fatigue can last for years and years for cancer patients after they complete treatment. Chronic fatigue is common for post-allo patients. Fatigue is a side effect of the Revlimid. I understand why I'm tired.

Now it's time for a nap until Craig homes home. Sweet daydreams.