well, i had my second chemotherapy session yesterday. or i am half-way to finished, as i like to put it. i was in the office for six hours. of course, that included a short trip to the lab for blood work, and a short doctor's visit before the infusions started. in case you wondered how chemo goes down, i will tell you how it happens. there are many treatment rooms around a central nurses/doctor's station. some of the rooms have ( heated!) recliners- i use one of these. they have rooms with hospital beds for the really sick guys- usually the elderly.
the nurse starts your iv, and begins a little saline drip. there are 5 different pre-chemo medications that are given. these are mostly in small iv bags, and do not take too long to infuse. first they give me a pepcid iv. this is to help protect the stomach. then comes the emend iv- this is a long acting drug to help prevent nausea and vomiting. next comes the aloxi- a drug that i had never heard of before i started my treatments. it is sort of like a long-acting zofran. it is for nausea and vomiting,too, but it stays in your system for 3 days. then comes the decadron- which is a steroid. i did not want to have this one, but the oncologist said that it helped in preventing anaphlaxis from the taxotere, so i put my worries aside, and am getting this,too. last thing they give you before the chemotherapy drugs is an iv push dose( not in a small bag, they shoot it right into your iv line) of benadryl. the nurse always tells me " nighty- night" when she gives it to me. i fight sleep because i know that the next bag will be the dreaded taxotere, and i do not want to be asleep for that!
so the big, bad, bag of taxotere is now infused. the oncologist lowered my dose from 150mg to 125mg because of all of my intestinal problems last time, i will spare you the details, so i am hoping that i will get along a little bit better this time. the reason i do not drift off to sleep after the benadryl dose is that unfortunately a patient can have anaphylaxis at any time to this drug. it is not guaranteed that if you do not react to it the first time, you will not the second, third, fourth,etc. my nurse told me that in her experience about 95% of patients who do not have anaphylaxis the first time, will not have it at the other times. lets hope i am in the 95%! worrier that i am though, i just can not relax until i see how it goes. they slow the infusion rate down for me at first, too. i appreciate this on many levels.
last comes a smaller bag of the cytoxan. i had intense nasal and sinus pain from the first infusion. it did not last too long- about 30 minutes after the infusion was over. i asked the nurse to slow down the infusion rate on this one,too. that helped a lot. i had only minor discomfort, and it was only in part of my sinuses, not in my face or eyes.
the nurse then runs in a little more saline, to clear the lines and just for your comfort. i drink a lot of water, but i do not want to get dehydrated! this time i felt a lot more " loopy" if you will. i am not sure why, but i think that it was the benadryl. i sent a facebook message to someone, with about every other word misspelled, so next time jeff has instructions to remind me to put down the cell phone before the benadryl comes out!
saturday will be the third day after the chemotherapy. that is when the long acting medications are gone, and i am on my own with the chemo drugs. not having to have the neulasta shot this time, which gave me extreme bone pain, will be a major advantage. i just may be dealing with the intestinal problems, which actually have already started, and perhaps nausea/vomiting. i have medicine for both, so i will be o.k.
i have gotten a lot of good advice from my "chemo buddies" concerning how to deal with the cancer, chemotherapy, hair loss,etc. i appreciate all of the advice and tips that i have received. here are my top four favorite pieces of advice that i would like to pass along to you.
1. pray daily. prayer is powerful, calming and will give you strength.
2. drink lots of water! i drink 5 of the 20 oz. tervis bottles of water every day, starting on chemo day and for several days following. on chemo day i drink one bottle on the ride over, one during my chemo, and one after. two more when i get home. then, 5 bottles a day for several days afterwards. there are two reasons for this. one, it helps prevent nausea because it moves the stuff out of your system. two, the cytoxan accumulates in your bladder and may cause bladder irritation resulting in painful cystitis, even bloody cystitis. this was enough to convince me!
3. be good to yourself. it does not have to be big things, although i have ordered a few things from amazon- a little more than usual. one of my favorite things is to sit on the front porch when it has cooled down, and admire the flower garden that my husband so lovingly planted for me. i call it my healing garden, and it it peaceful and beautiful.
4. show gratitude and appreciation. this is my own advice. i try to be grateful for even the smallest things, and have appreciation for the cards, letters, emails, gifts, hugs and smiles from my family and friends. it benefits everyone, i think. and it means the world to me.
i can NOT say that i am grateful that i have breast cancer. or had, hopefully! but i can say that i have learned a lot on my cancer journey. it may not always have been what i was looking for, but i have learned a lot of valuable life lessons so far along my way. and for that, i am grateful.
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