On day four I got up bright and early to start cleaning the house. Then I received a phone call from a friend who was heading to the park. I packed Maelyn up and we were out the door by 10 am. I was noticing some abdominal discomfort and I couldn't figure out if it was the baby, if I was hungry, or if it was nausea. We continued to the park and had fun on the swings, slides and watching the ducks. Around noon we decided to go to Chick-Fa-La for chicken nuggets. I was still experiencing abdominal discomfort and starting to feel tired. I realized then that I had not had a bowel movement since Friday night. I was feeling constipated.
Chemo induced constipation. Some chemotherapy drugs cause constipation. This can be because the drug affects the nerve supply to the bowel for a while. For precautionary reasons I had been popping a stool softener since Friday's treatment but ran out of them on Sunday. I came across a laxative in my medicine cabinet and popped two.
After a long agonizing night of stomach cramps and my inability to pass a stool or even gas -- the inevitable finally happened around 5am on Tuesday morning. Immediately I felt better. What a relief! I suggest not taking the laxative. It was too aggressive on my system and put me in more pain than I'd expected. The next day I went to the store and picked up some prune juice.
Day Five was uneventful. Maelyn came down with a persistent cough, so she stayed home from school. I spent the day doing many, many loads of laundry and tidying the house. I no longer had abdominal pain and I was feeling good again. I stopped taking my anti-nausea pills and have had no episodes of "break through nausea."
Still feeling good.
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