One treatment down ... ... and only five to go. Yesterday was my first treatment and it wasn't as scary as I originally presumed. My Dad went with me and stayed the full six hours until I was all medicated up. The only annoyances were the soreness when they accessed my port (which is still healing). It felt like someone pushing on a bad bruise. (That will, however, go away in time.) When I got to my last medication (herceptin) of the three I became physically exhausted. It felt as though I had worked out for six hours straight. The only side effect I had was a gassy, acidic tummy, which my oncologist said was natural for my size, the amount of meds, and the fact that I have a history of IBS. (I am sure you are cringing right now for me, Jenn. You know what it's like.) Apparently, these meds don't play well with the digestive system. The trick is to constantly keep something on the tummy so the medications can be absorbed. When I arrived back at my parents house after sleeping in the car on the way home I literally could not keep my eyelids open although my mind was wide awake. What a weird feeling! I slept about a total of nine hours last night. My dog Carly Anne decided to come play under the covers at about 1:30am to make me feel better and Joey (my brother) had arrived home from work around that time so we chatted a bit. I experienced some nausea, so I took a pill, and ate and drank. Didn't take long and I was passed back out again under my new heated blanket ... mmm.
I continue my allergy and nausea pills until Sunday. My nurse said Sunday is the day that I should start to feel the actual fatigue because I go off the steroid, which is a upper, and within 7 days of treatment my white blood cells will hit the lowest they will go. All in all, this coming week will be challenging due to the amount of medication they gave me. Thursday I meet with my oncologist to follow up on how I did with my first chemo treatment. Hopefully I can tell him, "GREAT ... keep 'em coming."
Lastly, my bone scan that took place on Monday came back completely clear. The sixth rib did not light up, nor did anything else. They presume the rib lighting up on the PETscan was probably a lymph node at the back of the breast tissue that they misread. YAY! So, the cancer is completely contained as far as we know. GREAT NEWS! My heart scan showed that the muscle is strong and can take these meds like a champ. And my blood work was stellar. The nurse was extremely pleased at what my benchmark looks like. She said, "Besides cancer, you are incredibly healthy and will just bounce right back from this after treatment."
All in all, I survived round one and now that I know what to expect, I am so much more at ease with all this. (Please know that I took the books, stuffed animals, good luck charms, etc. with me to help me through the process.) Also, all the text messages, phone calls, friends wearing pink, e-mails, warm thoughts, prayers and other outpouring of support truly surrounded me yesterday and lifted me up. It was exactly what I needed to get through this. Thank you ... for being you. I am incredible blessed to have people like you in my life who genuinely love and care for me.
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