Platelets Down!

Whole lot of mixed feelings filled this 2nd to last Tuesday of my treatment cycle.  As is the routine every Tuesday, I went in first thing to the lab and had my blood drawn.  Then an uneventful round of radiation, although I did learn on fantastic fact.  Tomorrow is my last full version of radiation.  The machine hits me at 10 different positions with radiation, with the 10th and final requiring additional setup and it hits my old scar on the right side of my neck with electrons.  Tomorrow will be my last dose of that for the duration, so my treatment will actually be shorter come Thursday.  That was nice to hear and it is really starting to feel like I am about to finish this whole ordeal.  I also met with the medical oncologist and was informed that my platelets are too low and they would not be administering the Cisplatin for this week.  He also made it sound like I probably would not be getting it next week, but at this point I will come back in and get bloodwork done to see if I can have it next week.  That's where the mixed feelings come in.  I am feeling worse and worse and so not having the chemo this week is nice to let me hopefully recover some, but I also would rather have gone through the whole treatment schedule without missing any.  Nothing can be done now, so I will just hope that 5 chemo cycles will be sufficient, and the doctor seems to think that should be more than enough for me.
I have been very tired all the time this past week and my writing has suffered.  I have not felt like doing it and so I took a break.  I hope to be better about it in the next couple of weeks and so I am forcing myself to write this.  It is a crazy feeling for me to feel THIS tired all of the time.  Now along with the tired, I have a constant sick feeling in my stomach that is making it harder and harder to eat.  I still don't have very horrible mouth side effects, so I am optimistic for the rest of the time that I will still miss out on the intense sore throat and mouth sores.  Again, I feel very fortunate that I have been spared from some of the more severe side effects and to still be feeling so well this far into treatment.  My weight is still pretty good, it is dropping somewhat but nothing that concerns them enough to verbally reprimand me and tell me to eat more.  I am starting to have some shooting pains in the side of my face and my lower left jaw that are bothersome, but still manageable without taking anything too drastic.  
Since I shaved my beard off, I had been bothered every morning by an annoying tickle type of sensation on my chin during treatments when I am strapped down to the table with my mask on and my arms restrained.  That is somewhat troublesome when I am laying there unable to move or do anything about it.  I realized last Friday what it was when I looked at my mask after they took it off.  They have a series of taped areas all around the mask that show alignment marks and such, and stuck to much of this tape were many remnants of my once glorious beard.  Little hairs were sticking out everywhere from the mask and were the source of my ever-growing frustrations as I lay immobilized on the table.  On Monday morning before treatment, I grabbed my mask and began the process of removing the many hairs in question.  Talk about a difference!  I can now, once again, lay there and receive my radiation without thinking that I am about to lose it.
Quick note on the platelets...I believe that I mentioned previously that the normal count is 140-400 and lets ignore the units for this discussion.  2 weeks ago I was sitting pretty at 184, then in 1 weeks time that number was cut in half to 98.  My doctors cutoff to administer chemo is 100, but he went ahead and let me take my 5th cycle.  As of today, my platelets are at 74 and he thinks they will go lower so he didn't administer.  I am hoping they rebound in the next week and I can have the final dose next Tuesday.  It was pretty amazing to me that they nose dived all of a sudden and so quickly.  I guess that stuff really is doing something to my body that is not pleasant.  One week from tomorrow, it will all be over, regardless.  I can not wait for that day, as I am ready to be done with this and move on.