First Chemo

Going into an infusion center to get chemo infused into a port below your clavicle has a bad reputation. The infusion is all bark and no bite. The worst part was when they accessed the port, and then again when they removed the needle from the port. Even tho I had applied Lidocaine Cream it was still not comfortable. Oh…and having all that fluid running into your body does make you need to use the bathroom. A lot. They denied my request for a foley catheter.

But the morning started with a visit with Dr. Sh. I discussed with him the horrendous night I had because of the Decadron. I told him I had not taken it this morning as ordered but I did have it with me. But would he please lower the dose or something because even tho I only need to take this med for 3 days out of 21, I can’t imagine being awake for those 3 days. He kindly pointed out another side effect of the Decadron that apparently I display….a slight flushing to the skin…and there I was this AM looking in the mirror wondering when I got a sunburn! No wonder my skin feels so hot. Anyway…he did reduce my total Decadron dose for today and infused it thru my port all at once. Tomorrow tho I have to take what I took yesterday. Like I said, this isn’t your ordinary steroid, and if it helps stave off any nasty side effects then maybe, just maybe, if he will infuse one of the doses I can get thru it. He just told me to take more Ativan and throw in a few Benadryl for good measure.

So I started off with the Taxotere infused first. That took an hour. It will always take an hour. This is the chemo with the nasty hair loss, bone pain side effects. After that was infused they flushed the port and cath and hung the Carboplatin. That took 30 min. It will always take 30 min. This is the chemo with the nasty GI side effects. But boy oh boy do I have my bases covered in this department. 2 prescription anti nausea meds,  one that I am to take every 8 hours starting tomorrow morning and ending in three days. Whether I feel nauseous or not. If I can’t “go” I got meds for that, if I “go” too much, I got meds for that too. Pretty much, my bathroom is turning in to a pharmacy. Once the Carbo was done, the port and cath flushed they began to infuse my life saving medicine. The medicine I have been anxiously waiting for since Ap. 25 when I found out I was HER2+++. Herceptin. I just closed my eyes during the 90 min it took to infuse it and imagined it spreading throughout my body, killing all those nasty little HER2+++ cells. In the future tho, this med will infuse in 30 min. This is not chemo (have I mentioned that before?) and while it does have side effects they aren’t so nasty. In fact, the infusion nurse gave me two Tylenol 325mg tablets to swallow before the Herceptin was infused to ward off any “side effects”. I will get Herceptin every Tues between now and Oct 23, and every three weeks after that till next July.

And I look forward to each and every dose.

Tomorrow, and every third Wed between now and Oct 24 I will go back in for a shot of Neulasta which will help increase my good white blood cells. And also can cause some nasty bone pains. Someone once told me it was like having a migraine in each of her bones.

I was also told that the side effects were cumulative. So after each treatment the side effects will be worse than the treatments before.

And while I have been told these things, I am going to try to maintain a positive attitude and hope for the best. And I am now going to be v-e-r-y gentle with my hair.

One down, five more to go.