Today is the eighth day since my last chemotherapy treatment. It is the first day when I really feel like myself again, which means I’m aware enough to notice something I suspect is significant.
This is going to sound weird and gross, but, I’m pretty sure the most virulent part of the chemo cocktail is exiting my system through my pores. My skin feels itchy and I can smell plasticky metallic something everything I break out into a sweat.
I distinctly remember smelling this scent the last time around, as I was coming out of the painful haze around day six. So I wonder if my body has to work these chemicals through my system, finishing with my skin, before I can get over the hump.
That leads me to ponder ways that I might help this process along. Should I drink more water? Juice? Some sort of tea? I wish I understood physiology better so I understood how medicine migrates through the body. I also want to be as gentle as possible to my liver and kidneys. Can I do more for them somehow while still encouraging them to do their jobs?
I’m bringing this observation to my doctors, and all my related questions. In the meantime, I’m going to help my skin as much as I can so this whatever-it-is gets washed, exfoliated, and scrubbed away. I do know that the point of chemotherapy is to kill all rapidly dividing cells and that includes new layers of skin, so I’ve already been told to coddle my dermis. Maybe, for starters, I can get one of those super-bougie pedicures where little fish nibble my feet – and take it from there.
medicinal sausage 
I have no doubt that the toxins are creeping out through your skin. No doubt at all. I’m sorry if it is a distracting or unpleasant smell. Hopefully your doctors can give you good advice about whether dring more water (normally a good idea) will be okay with your delicate body chemistry.
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