Chemo Part 1

I was told I needed to have chemotherapy as part of my treatment. I like to think of it as my insurance. Even though the cancer was removed my body, we want to kill any remaining cells and stop them from starting to grow again.

I was not looking forward to chemo. I had these pictures in my head from movies and my grandfather of looking too thin and spending a lot of time hovered over the porcelain god. Add on to the mix hair loss, what sane person wants to sign up for that?

I decided I didn't have much choice in the matter. I tell myself that this experience is only short term and I get through this. Plus I want that reassurance that I did everything I could to stop this disease.

A few days before Chemo, I was having chest pains. They were not going away and were seeming to get worse with physical activity. I thought it was some reaction to my newly placed port. So I called my medical doctor and left a message with the nurse. The nurse quickly got back to me and said go to the ER. I asked "Can't I just come in the office and be looked at?" No the hospital has more equipment and we would just end up sending you there. Well this happened to be the day of my MRI. I knew there would be no way that I would get out of the ER in time for my appt, so I canceled and rescheduled on a less hectic day.

They were very quickly to get me into a room and then began a series of tests to see what was going on. They ran all kinds of tests and found nothing. I asked the Dr if this could be anxiety. He responded that I certainly had a lot to be anxious about in my life. He sent me on my way.

Originally I was scheduled for MRI on Monday and chemo on Tues. Well it took a week to back into the MRI and this pushed back chemo a week too.

My port is located above my left breast and would need to be accessed during chemo. I was all worried about this and what to wear. By this point I have caught on that it needs to be a button up shirt, polo shirt or dress with an open neck line. So since I am dressed up for this occasion I have made the remark that I look like a babe on chemo days. (I had a roommate that used this term when she was looking nice or hot) Here I am on the first day.

What is chemo like? This a question I often get. At this point I will walk you through chemo day and the following days as I remember it.

This is me with my port hooked up and I am getting my drugs.

The room where I get chemo has several vinyl recliners and a nurses station in the middle. There are curtains between chairs that can be moved for privacy or if you want to take a nap. I sometimes refer to it as the chemo lounge and the cocktails they serve up are my chemo drugs. MY first 2 cocktails were Adriamycin and cyclophosphamide. The Adriamycin is sometimes referred to as the red devil. It required a nurse to sit by my side and push it over a 10 min period.

I am jumping ahead of myself here. So chemo morning starts off with getting up earlier than usual and preparing for the day. I would ride with Jim to work in the morning and depending on if were were on time one of us would drop off Preston at a church member's house for the day. I pack a big bag with a blanket, travel pillow, laptop, book, my bag of medicine,mints, and kleenex.

When I get to the doctor's office I check in and head to the lab for blood work. It is very important that I am healthy enough to receive chemo.

I then have an appointment with my oncologists who listens to my heart and lungs. Asks for any problems (vomiting), and then sometimes mentions something in passing like genetic testing and shutting down my ovaries for a while. My tumors were estrogen positive and that can effect them in the future.

From there I head into the lounge. They start an IV through my port (which I have already applied a numbing cream, so I don't feel a thing) and give me meds for the neasea followed by my chemo. I also take a pill call emend, it is an anti neausea drug.The red devil comes out in a brown plastic bag and is in a huge syringe. I suck on mints (icebreakers) because I can taste things while they are accessing my port. I later ended up feeling that same tasting sensation at home. The answer to this problem was an anxiety pill. I surf the internet, read or nap while I am sitting in the chair. It takes about 2 hours to get my treatment. Netflix is a blocked site so I am unable to stream in a video.

I brought snacks with me to chemo and now the thought of those snacks makes me want to gag, so I have a new plan and that will be shared later.

After getting all my drugs, I would have a very full almost bloated feeling. Not a I ate too much food fullness, but I have so many drugs in my body. A friend would pick me up and I would go home and sleep.

Meals were brought in several times. This was so nice that I didn't have to bother with cooking. And I was having issues with taste, so wasn't too motivated to fix something.

Days 1-4 I had to several pills (emend, steriod, Zofran and Companzine) for the nausea. These pills made me groggy and hard to focus too. I didn't like to drive. The pills worked though, I have yet to throw up. Then as the chemo was wearing off I would start to get a real appetite from the steriods. I would also have blurry vision and need to wear my glasses just to help focus. Water started to taste funny. I would feel so thirsty and nothing would quench my thirst. This was so frustrating for me. I usually am a big water drinker. I would go in on Day 2 for a neulesta shot. This often made me so tired I could not get out bed the next day. then I would also get bone pain. This would happen usually while I was doing something like sweeping the floor. At this point the best thing was to sit down and take a rest.


Day5-8
No more Drugs! Yay. But by day 6 I was having a down day emotionally. Why did I have to get cancer? Can I make it till the end of the week and then water will taste better. I have no motivation to do anything. I am still taking a daily nap. Going to church sometimes wore me out.

Day 8 would come and I was starting to feel better. 2 weeks of normal would occur. I was able to cook our meals, do some gardening. go on dates with Jim, and even take the boys on some trips. In fact we took our vacation to the Outer banks on one of my good weeks.

What I do differently now that I have been through the process a few times.
I take an anxiety pill when needed and before treatment.
If 600 mg of Ibuprofen does not knock a headache, I break out the Excedrin. This girl is not going to mess with a migraine. The very first treatment gave me a migraine. I was so worked up. Remember my cancer images. I haven't lost weight, in fact I have put on a few pounds. And that is ok. I am dealing with this the best that I can. And sometimes food is the answer for me.