The day started with OT and Audrey was pleased and surprised to learn that the cord released, and when she took ROM measurements, I'd exceeded all the goals she'd initially set for me, so she discharged me. One more thing to cross off the list!
I then had blood drawn (using the port-a-cath--yay!) and my blood work came back all good (platelets 107K; hemoglobin up to 10.5) so was cleared to start chemo.
I was lucky enough to have two amazing people accompany me on this first chemo experience. Greg started the day, even canceling his office hours so he could be there through the appointment with Dr. Shah.
When Greg had to leave, my dear friend Chelsea came to sit with me. I love that she's as fascinated with the whole experience as I am, asking questions of the nurses just like I always do! And I was able to catch up with her on all sorts of things in her life, too. It was just what I needed.
The funniest thing happened when I was having my blood drawn initially. The nurse noted that my port-a-cath was located rather low, and commented about another patient she had whose port-a-cath was even lower. She raved about what a wonderful person this woman was and said that she hoped I'd get to meet her sometime as she always made the nurse smile. So as I was being infused, my friend Lisa stopped by, as she had just been getting radiation downstairs. Lisa is the friend I mentioned who has the same diagnosis, most of the same doctors, and is roughly 6 months ahead of me in treatment. So we're chatting and the nurse comes over and says, "oh, you've met Lisa. She's the one I was telling you about!" Such a small world. And so cool to have a surprise visit.
The infusions began with pre-chemo meds (steroids and anti-nausea meds), and I felt nothing odd other than the metallic taste when the port was flushed before and between meds. Next the obnoxiously red adriamycin was given by IV injection into the port. I guess that's because it's a vesicant, so they have to be extra careful and watch it all go in. To be safe and hopefully avoid mouth sores (although Dr. Shah said there is no evidence that it helps), I sucked on ice the whole time it was injected. Finally I got the Cytoxan by IV drip. I couldn't explain what exactly it made me feel like, but there was definitely a feeling of something being "off" while not being bad enough to even mention to the nurse. As she was disconnecting me from the IV, she ran down a list of common side effects (dizzy? tired? queasy?) and then got to "burning feeling in your nasal passageway" and I said, "YES!" It was kind of a strange, sorta sinus-but-not-really-sinus headache. Unfortunately, it's still there, combined with some tiredness (likely because I didn't sleep well last night). I think I'll be taking it easy tonight, maybe knitting and watching some Buffy.
Speaking of Buffy, I don't think I've mentioned that I've decided to use Buffy the Vampire Slayer as my visualization. Because I'm trained as a Scientist, I don't have much belief in many of the alternative medicines--especially those that could potentially interfere with allopathic meds. But there are some that I believe cannot cause harm, and they allow me a bit of feeling in control. The ice during adriamycin is one. The other is the use of visualization. I was first taught this technique as a child by my parents. They taught my brother and I to "wish the warts away" and I remember my dad explaining the immune system to us, and how we could imagine it attacking the virus that caused our warts, and the phagocytes clearing the destroyed wart away. Many cancer patients visualize the chemotherapy as PacMan, eating the cancer cells. Greg and I started watching "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" on Amazon Prime right around the time of my diagnosis (we're in the last season now), and I woke up in the middle of the night, early after diagnosis, with the idea that the chemo is like Buffy and her team of friends, and the cancer cells are like vampires. I love the idea of the two wrestling, but the chemo eventually staking the cancer cells, which dissolve into dust.
I was sent home with prescriptions for three meds (Zofran 2x/day for 5 days, Decadron 2x/day for 3 days, and Compazine as needed) and over-the-counter things to buy to counteract side-effects from the meds given to counteract the side-effects of the chemo. UGH! I'll be going in tomorrow morning to get my first Neulasta shot, so have been taking Claritin to help with *those* side-effects. Oh, the meds...
Mira had made me a paper chain to count down my treatments, with 4 big purple links for the AC's and 12 thinner green links for the TH's. It was pretty nice to be able to RIP that first purple link!
Yay for beginnings! Your visualization is awesome. And, like Buffy, you are going to slay this!
ReplyDelete