July 15, 2013
Thursday, July 11 was my first chemo treatment. I have felt fine since then with just a slight bit of dizziness on Friday morning when I awoke and a very slight headache on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I have been keeping on top of my anti-nausea medicine as I don't wish to begin feeling nauseous. Appetite is down slightly (which is just fine - I could stand to lose a few pounds....), but food for the most part still tastes the same. No mouth sores, gastrointestinal issues, or other unpleasant side effects from the chemo yet that I had planned on experiencing so I'm thrilled. Now, if every treatment would go this smooth, I will be a happy lady. I'm not holding my breath - I'm sure at some point the amount of drugs in my body will start causing more havoc than good. Wait for it.....wait for it.....
Monday, July 15, 2013
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Hello Red Devil....
July 11, 2013
I will be exactly 7 weeks post op tomorrow, and had my first round of chemo drugs this morning. It's hard to believe it's been that long, and in other ways the time seems to be flying by; I hope the feeling of time flying by continues, but only for the next two years....then it can slow down again!
I was up at 6:30, but began thinking of all the unknown today and procrastinated in bed (got on computer, kept laying in bed hitting the snooze button) until almost 7:30. I finally decided it was time to face the day and get in the shower already. Worked until 10:30, then bid farewell to the coworkers extraordinaire to get to the clinic. Upon arrival I checked in at the front desk and went upstairs. Didn't have to wait long to get called back and then we did the weight thing (ugh....) and she asked if I wanted a room with a bed or a chair. Upon looking at the chair and how small the rooms are, I chose the chair as I knew I might have visitors and there would be more room. Mom came and joined me just as I was getting ready to give her a call to try and tell her exactly what room I was in and found me before anything got started. They had only taken my vitals (blood pressure, temperature and pulse/oxygen). We sat for probably 30 minutes and my nurse came in to inform that they were looking at orders and waiting on the meds to be mixed and it shouldn't be much longer.
First up was inserting a needle into my port. I had put a small dab of the EMLA cream I had left over from surgery on a bandaide at work around 9am as to numb the area a little so it would hurt less. Mom was smart and mentioned the freeze cream they have and so my nurse Heather shot me for a good 10-15 seconds with the freeze cream. Then, she inserted the needle into the port and pulled on the syringe for the flash of blood. Nothing. So, she opened a syringe of saline and hooked that one up and flushed the line, and flash - there was blood! (Yes, this is good! It means the port was working and just needed some prodding; I had not had anyone do anything with it until today.) The freeze cream is amazing! Never felt a thing going in and no pain whatsoever tonight from the IV.
Next up, administering half a bag of saline through the IV/port before any of the chemo drugs. This took maybe 20 minutes or so. But before any of the chemo drugs were administered, they gave me two different drugs for nausea via IV. Each one took about 20 minutes.
And then.....it was Adriamycin, a.k.a. "Red Devil"! This is THE mother of chemo drugs that I will be receiving. The nurse administered this to me via push. A "push" means the medication is in a syringe and they literally sit next to you and upon hooking the syringe into your IV, they gently apply pressure and "push" the medicine in slowly, as opposed to the drip of an IV. I received three large syringes (think 1 inch diameter and about 5-6 inches long). They had me suck a popsicle (or ice works too) while it's being pushed to reduce the chance/occurrence/severity of mouth sores. While it will deliver the gifts of (potential) nausea and heart problems, along with drowsiness, fatigue, hair loss, diarrhea, red urine, and will lower my white and red blood cell counts as it attacks not only the cancer cells but other rapidly dividing cells in my body, I must remember that in the end it will make me better. This will be a journey. I will travel this yellow brick road and kick some red devil ass along the way!
Last but not least was Cytoxan. This was another bag hung with the saline and given over 90 minutes. I turned on the TV only briefly to watch maybe 30 minutes of Ellen. The rest of the time was spent talking to mom and/or interacting with the nurses who came to stop the beeping and change out the four bags of fluid I was given today. It was great to see Sally, my moms supervisor and have a chance to speak to her for a short while. I also got to meet Ralph who works in the pharmacy and mixes drugs; while he didn't personally mix mine, he was on top of it! Oh Ralph - loved his German brogue and hearing about his granddaughter and seeing his adorable picture of her.
Once the Cytoxan was finished I was done. The nurse came in and removed the needle from my port, which didn't hurt at all and was a cinch. She reminded me of the anti-nausea prescriptions at the pharmacy and insisted that if I had any problems or side affects they warned me about, I was to call ASAP. Mom and I gathered my stuff, and we were free! Total ordeal took from 11am to just after 4pm. I was at Walgreens about 4:20 buying my meds and drinks and then to my parents for dinner. Fantastic bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich with a little bit of potato salad and just a little bit of my new favorite ice cream from Hudsonville for desert.
Now, sleep so I can hopefully go to work tomorrow (Friday) morning for a little while before my afternoon appointments. This weekend will be taking it easy and hopefully feeling somewhat decent given the circumstances.
I will be exactly 7 weeks post op tomorrow, and had my first round of chemo drugs this morning. It's hard to believe it's been that long, and in other ways the time seems to be flying by; I hope the feeling of time flying by continues, but only for the next two years....then it can slow down again!
I was up at 6:30, but began thinking of all the unknown today and procrastinated in bed (got on computer, kept laying in bed hitting the snooze button) until almost 7:30. I finally decided it was time to face the day and get in the shower already. Worked until 10:30, then bid farewell to the coworkers extraordinaire to get to the clinic. Upon arrival I checked in at the front desk and went upstairs. Didn't have to wait long to get called back and then we did the weight thing (ugh....) and she asked if I wanted a room with a bed or a chair. Upon looking at the chair and how small the rooms are, I chose the chair as I knew I might have visitors and there would be more room. Mom came and joined me just as I was getting ready to give her a call to try and tell her exactly what room I was in and found me before anything got started. They had only taken my vitals (blood pressure, temperature and pulse/oxygen). We sat for probably 30 minutes and my nurse came in to inform that they were looking at orders and waiting on the meds to be mixed and it shouldn't be much longer.
First up was inserting a needle into my port. I had put a small dab of the EMLA cream I had left over from surgery on a bandaide at work around 9am as to numb the area a little so it would hurt less. Mom was smart and mentioned the freeze cream they have and so my nurse Heather shot me for a good 10-15 seconds with the freeze cream. Then, she inserted the needle into the port and pulled on the syringe for the flash of blood. Nothing. So, she opened a syringe of saline and hooked that one up and flushed the line, and flash - there was blood! (Yes, this is good! It means the port was working and just needed some prodding; I had not had anyone do anything with it until today.) The freeze cream is amazing! Never felt a thing going in and no pain whatsoever tonight from the IV.
Next up, administering half a bag of saline through the IV/port before any of the chemo drugs. This took maybe 20 minutes or so. But before any of the chemo drugs were administered, they gave me two different drugs for nausea via IV. Each one took about 20 minutes.
And then.....it was Adriamycin, a.k.a. "Red Devil"! This is THE mother of chemo drugs that I will be receiving. The nurse administered this to me via push. A "push" means the medication is in a syringe and they literally sit next to you and upon hooking the syringe into your IV, they gently apply pressure and "push" the medicine in slowly, as opposed to the drip of an IV. I received three large syringes (think 1 inch diameter and about 5-6 inches long). They had me suck a popsicle (or ice works too) while it's being pushed to reduce the chance/occurrence/severity of mouth sores. While it will deliver the gifts of (potential) nausea and heart problems, along with drowsiness, fatigue, hair loss, diarrhea, red urine, and will lower my white and red blood cell counts as it attacks not only the cancer cells but other rapidly dividing cells in my body, I must remember that in the end it will make me better. This will be a journey. I will travel this yellow brick road and kick some red devil ass along the way!
Last but not least was Cytoxan. This was another bag hung with the saline and given over 90 minutes. I turned on the TV only briefly to watch maybe 30 minutes of Ellen. The rest of the time was spent talking to mom and/or interacting with the nurses who came to stop the beeping and change out the four bags of fluid I was given today. It was great to see Sally, my moms supervisor and have a chance to speak to her for a short while. I also got to meet Ralph who works in the pharmacy and mixes drugs; while he didn't personally mix mine, he was on top of it! Oh Ralph - loved his German brogue and hearing about his granddaughter and seeing his adorable picture of her.
Once the Cytoxan was finished I was done. The nurse came in and removed the needle from my port, which didn't hurt at all and was a cinch. She reminded me of the anti-nausea prescriptions at the pharmacy and insisted that if I had any problems or side affects they warned me about, I was to call ASAP. Mom and I gathered my stuff, and we were free! Total ordeal took from 11am to just after 4pm. I was at Walgreens about 4:20 buying my meds and drinks and then to my parents for dinner. Fantastic bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich with a little bit of potato salad and just a little bit of my new favorite ice cream from Hudsonville for desert.
Now, sleep so I can hopefully go to work tomorrow (Friday) morning for a little while before my afternoon appointments. This weekend will be taking it easy and hopefully feeling somewhat decent given the circumstances.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Return to work
Monday, June 8
Today was my first day back since having a left mastectomy on May 24. It was weird; as if nothing had changed and everything changed. My co-workers are the best and have been super supportive so far. I walked around the corner to find two signs on the door of our suite of offices that read "Welcome Back Sarah" and "We missed you!", and two more signs on the door of my office that said, "Welcome Sarah" and "Michael Missed You!" (Michael Phelps = I'm a huge fan and have his Kellogg's poster above my desk at work!). They brought donuts and it was great to sit in the middle of the suite and catch up after being gone for six weeks. Took me a while to get signed onto my computer and had to reset some of my passwords that had expired in that time, but I finally got going enough that I think today wasn't a total waste. Ha!
I start chemo on Thursday, July 11 at 11:00a.m. Not sure what to expect, so that has me nervous, but I'm sure I'll do fine. I think the hardest part of this whole process is not being able to make plans. I want to do so much, but have no idea what the future holds; I can't very well make plans, as I don't know if I'll feel well, be sick, be ok, etc. It sux. Day by day, no future plans being made at this time.
My new friend Judy has second round of surgery tomorrow to have more lymph nodes removed. I pray she does well and feels decent when it's over. Her armpit is going to be sore again, and that sux as she was just beginning to feel better. She's strong and will get through it and we are going to support each other. I like to think of her as my second mom! :) Her sons graduated a couple years before me and a couple years after me.
Today was my first day back since having a left mastectomy on May 24. It was weird; as if nothing had changed and everything changed. My co-workers are the best and have been super supportive so far. I walked around the corner to find two signs on the door of our suite of offices that read "Welcome Back Sarah" and "We missed you!", and two more signs on the door of my office that said, "Welcome Sarah" and "Michael Missed You!" (Michael Phelps = I'm a huge fan and have his Kellogg's poster above my desk at work!). They brought donuts and it was great to sit in the middle of the suite and catch up after being gone for six weeks. Took me a while to get signed onto my computer and had to reset some of my passwords that had expired in that time, but I finally got going enough that I think today wasn't a total waste. Ha!
I start chemo on Thursday, July 11 at 11:00a.m. Not sure what to expect, so that has me nervous, but I'm sure I'll do fine. I think the hardest part of this whole process is not being able to make plans. I want to do so much, but have no idea what the future holds; I can't very well make plans, as I don't know if I'll feel well, be sick, be ok, etc. It sux. Day by day, no future plans being made at this time.
My new friend Judy has second round of surgery tomorrow to have more lymph nodes removed. I pray she does well and feels decent when it's over. Her armpit is going to be sore again, and that sux as she was just beginning to feel better. She's strong and will get through it and we are going to support each other. I like to think of her as my second mom! :) Her sons graduated a couple years before me and a couple years after me.
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