So far treatment has been going well, or as well as chemo can go. I am not even halfway yet, but I will be in two weeks! How does it feel to be going through this? Oh, there are many aspects, physical and emotional, that make it easy some days and really hard other days.
I get an infusion every Thursday. I go in at 9am to the cancer center and spend about an hour receiving Decadron and Zofran for nausea, then I get the Adriamycin (looks like red koolaid, but in reality really a colorful fungus), and then I get a half a liter of fluid. It starts out with waiting in a waiting room that smells like an aquarium, and being slightly nauseous all the time, I notice these things. Although the pretty salt water fish in the tank in the room make up for it. Then a great tech calls me back, he's very nice and cheerful all the time! He then weighs me, takes me back to my own private chemo room with a window, tv, and nice reclining chair, and then I get my temperature and blood pressure taken. I then have a nurse come in (I love all of them--they're all so nice!) and they put a needle in my port, which doesn't hurt, or pinches if you will. I have received a few compliments on my ability to withstand the pain of getting poked; and I've heard that there are grown men who squirm and yelp at getting their port poked. If you need explanation of the port, it's a pretty neat invention. It's a disk with a long tube attached that drains into the heart or right above it. It's implanted under the skin and the disk is poked (similar to a rubber stopper of sorts) at every infusion. It makes it so I don't have to worry about vein damage if I were to get an IV every week. I'll have it in for the next year or two my doctor said. Mine is located at my subclavian (below the collar bone), but some people get them in their neck or their arm.
Anyways, as I said, it takes about an hour or so to get all the meds. I see my doctor every four weeks, and we have the appointment while I'm having chemo. Kind of like one stop shopping. The rest of the day I usually feel pretty good, although the medication makes me look really really pale. The Decadron makes you stay awake, a little hyper even, and it gives you the munchies. So I usually get in a good amount of food on Thursdays too. Fridays aren't too bad, good appetite and such. Saturdays though I start to feel the effects of the infusion. I feel like I'm coming down with the flu, or as another lady I know put it, you feel like you have a hangover. So I basically nap and eat what I can. Speaking of eating what I can, this is the only time in my life where I had a doctor tell me to eat whatever I can and stick with high calorie foods :) It does prove a challenge though as sometimes you get breakthrough nausea or you just don't feel hungry. Yet, I've pretty much maintainted my weight throughout treatment, which is good because studies show that helps reduce reoccurances.
Sundays aren't too bad, the flu feeling tapers off. Which leaves the rest of the week, Monday through Wednesday, as pretty good days. I nap often in there when I need to, but I feel good. Although, I do notice I have no stamina sometimes. I can't play four hours a game or watch tv too long or it just tires me. Which is weird because I used to marathon a lot of things in life--but now I just take it easy.
I do keep myself occupied though. Either I waste time screwing around on the computer or watching tv a lot; but I also pick my sister up from school and tutor her in the math and sciences. I also have an exercise class I go to; and Wednesday through Friday I go with my mom to run all the errands she needs to. So being home definitely keeps me occupied. I am going to get back into running soon, once the weekly infusions stop--can't wait!
That's pretty much how things are going so far. Yet, there are down sides to all of this, the side effects. One obvious side effect is the hair loss. I haven't lost all the hair on my head, but probably about 70% of it. The hair on my body has also stopped growing. The only place I have hair growing is my lower legs...so I still have to shave! It's a classic. But I don't have to shave my armpits or pluck my eyebrows anymore, so there's a plus. Although the second phase of chemo does usually include the losing of eyebrows and eyelash hairs! Hopefully that won't happen to me...
Another lovely side effect is all the changes in my mouth and throat. I don't heal very well anymore, in fact if I cut myself it takes weeks for it to return to normal. As for my mouth, I have sores in it that make it hard to swallow, chew and sometimes talk. They don't heal and they usually bleed. It's gross, but at least they don't hurt anymore because I treat them with a swish of Gelclair every day. It also makes my taste change. It's not a dramatic change, but basically food does not taste the same at all. The foods I loved to eat now don't taste good, sort of bland actually. Plus, I have to stay away from anything with citric acid (hello all fruits!), or anything spicy or salty. Sadly chocolate doesn't taste the same and many other once tasty desserts. Lately the only thing that tastes good is pasta, so I eat that when I can.
I've had other random side effects, but they'd probably be TMI for this post, if I haven't crossed the line already! So I look forward to the second phase of chemo where the big side effect is peripheral neuropathy, or basically numbness and tingling in the hands and feet. Although, some patients have a really hard time and get nausea and fatigue with this treatment--I'm just praying I'm not one of them! The infusion for this drug (Taxol) would take a long time, three hours, so I'd be at the cancer center longer, but they give you lots of benadryl with that treatment, so I'll probably be just sleeping my way through it! My first treatment of it will be July 6th...only a few more weeks till I get that break!
