Chemo Round 1
Chemo round 1 has been slain.
I'm not feeling the hell effects of it yet. I've been warned that I will feel pretty great for a couple of days and then it will hit me like a train, so I'm just enjoying the pre train accident moments while I can.
Even though I was told I wouldn't feel too bad during the actual infusion, I honestly didn't believe it... Pumping poison into your system can't make you feel good, so I thought it was possibly going to be a much more hardcore version of the time that people told me, before my first tattoo, that "it doesn't hurt and your adrenaline kicks in and you don't even feel it anymore." Bahahahahahhah. Liars.
But, to be honest, it was true with chemo. The hardest parts of the whole day were the fact that they gave me 50mg of benadryl which really made me woozy, but I couldn't sleep due to the cold cap situation, and the frozen gel mitts for my hands and feet, which I would have never expected as the most difficult aspects of the day. The cold caps have to be changed every 20 minutes for the first couple of caps of the day and then every 30 minutes for the rest of the day - for an hour prior to the chemo infusions and for 4 hours after they finish. They are incredibly time consuming for everyone involved and the process means that I could only possibly doze for 15 or 20 minutes in between, but that type of broken sleep is more harmful and disruptive to me than actually attempting to fight through the benadryl fog. My nurse, Stephanie, told me they wouldn't have to give me that high of a dose of benadryl for subsequent rounds if I didn't have any allergic reaction, which I luckily didn't have, so fingers crossed for the next time.
I really thought that the cold caps would be horrifying, and while it wasn't pleasant, it wasn't nearly as terrible as I expected. I have heard it gets worse as your hair inevitably sheds and thins, so I may sing a different tune in a couple of rounds, but my first day was better than I ever expected. Trying to keep the frozen gel packs on my hands and feet during my Taxotere (1 of 2 chemo drugs) infusion, that was the absolute worst. Unbearable. It's recommended to counteract the effects of neuropathy (numbness and tingling in the hands and feet that can become relatively severe and impact balance, etc.) and to hopefully help with any nail issues I might have (some people lose their fingernails and toenails and other people seem to keep them with no issue). The effects are cumulative, so I'm trying to do what I can, when I can, so that I might minimize any side effects that might be coming for me... BUT OH HOLY SHIT. I tried to keep them on for as long as I could during the 1 hour infusion and it ended up being 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there. I got "used" to the cold caps, somehow, and all I felt from the frozen gel mitts was very distinct cold burning and searing pain.
I'm anxious to see how this round of chemo hits me and to get a sense of how my Summer might go. I have 3 weeks in between each chemo with specific medications to take on certain days and follow up appointments that have to happen in a certain time frame between rounds, so I'm wanting to get a sense of how the pattern will unfold and which days I might feel ok and which ones will be definite no-go days.
:::::::::::::As I've been writing this in bits over the course of the day, I have definitely started to go downhill a bit... no trains have hit me yet, but my body started aching a couple of hours ago - very flu-like body aches. I keep hearing about bone pain from the Neulasta on-body injector that injected a medication (which boosts my white blood cell count) into my stomach yesterday evening, but I can't really fathom what it feels like. I'm sure that I will learn in the coming days, but, for now, I'm just pretty achey to the touch all over my entire body. And am going to peace out for the rest of the night::::::::::::::
xo.
I'm not feeling the hell effects of it yet. I've been warned that I will feel pretty great for a couple of days and then it will hit me like a train, so I'm just enjoying the pre train accident moments while I can.
Even though I was told I wouldn't feel too bad during the actual infusion, I honestly didn't believe it... Pumping poison into your system can't make you feel good, so I thought it was possibly going to be a much more hardcore version of the time that people told me, before my first tattoo, that "it doesn't hurt and your adrenaline kicks in and you don't even feel it anymore." Bahahahahahhah. Liars.
But, to be honest, it was true with chemo. The hardest parts of the whole day were the fact that they gave me 50mg of benadryl which really made me woozy, but I couldn't sleep due to the cold cap situation, and the frozen gel mitts for my hands and feet, which I would have never expected as the most difficult aspects of the day. The cold caps have to be changed every 20 minutes for the first couple of caps of the day and then every 30 minutes for the rest of the day - for an hour prior to the chemo infusions and for 4 hours after they finish. They are incredibly time consuming for everyone involved and the process means that I could only possibly doze for 15 or 20 minutes in between, but that type of broken sleep is more harmful and disruptive to me than actually attempting to fight through the benadryl fog. My nurse, Stephanie, told me they wouldn't have to give me that high of a dose of benadryl for subsequent rounds if I didn't have any allergic reaction, which I luckily didn't have, so fingers crossed for the next time.
I really thought that the cold caps would be horrifying, and while it wasn't pleasant, it wasn't nearly as terrible as I expected. I have heard it gets worse as your hair inevitably sheds and thins, so I may sing a different tune in a couple of rounds, but my first day was better than I ever expected. Trying to keep the frozen gel packs on my hands and feet during my Taxotere (1 of 2 chemo drugs) infusion, that was the absolute worst. Unbearable. It's recommended to counteract the effects of neuropathy (numbness and tingling in the hands and feet that can become relatively severe and impact balance, etc.) and to hopefully help with any nail issues I might have (some people lose their fingernails and toenails and other people seem to keep them with no issue). The effects are cumulative, so I'm trying to do what I can, when I can, so that I might minimize any side effects that might be coming for me... BUT OH HOLY SHIT. I tried to keep them on for as long as I could during the 1 hour infusion and it ended up being 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there. I got "used" to the cold caps, somehow, and all I felt from the frozen gel mitts was very distinct cold burning and searing pain.
I'm anxious to see how this round of chemo hits me and to get a sense of how my Summer might go. I have 3 weeks in between each chemo with specific medications to take on certain days and follow up appointments that have to happen in a certain time frame between rounds, so I'm wanting to get a sense of how the pattern will unfold and which days I might feel ok and which ones will be definite no-go days.
:::::::::::::As I've been writing this in bits over the course of the day, I have definitely started to go downhill a bit... no trains have hit me yet, but my body started aching a couple of hours ago - very flu-like body aches. I keep hearing about bone pain from the Neulasta on-body injector that injected a medication (which boosts my white blood cell count) into my stomach yesterday evening, but I can't really fathom what it feels like. I'm sure that I will learn in the coming days, but, for now, I'm just pretty achey to the touch all over my entire body. And am going to peace out for the rest of the night::::::::::::::
xo.
Hi Acasia, I am about to start the Chemo regiment myself . One of the thousands of things they told me was to take to two Claritin tablets everyday (this will help with bone aches), they said they can not explain why it helps, but said it really does make a difference.
ReplyDeleteI was also told that protein is a key also, so try to eat lots of protein foods or drink protein shakes.
Thanks for the insight.
Lorraine Jenkins
Hi Lorraine, thank you! Yes, I do take Claritin (which is a bonus, as I also have allergies!) for the week surrounding chemo, although it hasn't been a cure-all, for me. And I do a pretty high level of protein most days, but a few of the days this last round were just enough to push me over the edge with loss of appetite and food/smell aversions, unfortunately.
DeleteI'm sorry to hear that you have the need for chemo, but happy to hear that you'll be starting soon and are being proactive. Sending you healing vibes!!!