The last treatment was pretty uneventful on the medical front. Luckily, my blood counts were still within normal ranges, though my hemoglobin was a little low, so I guess it's time to step it up with the leafy greens and red meat! Treatment itself is also becoming pretty routine, which I guess is a good thing, ie. I haven't developed any negative associations with with chemo.
So, what is a typical 'uneventful' day of chemo? Well, I woke up feeling pretty refreshed, ate a nice breakfast (eggs! can't get enough of them eggs!), and headed to the U of M Masonic clinic with my posse which included my mom and Scott. For the first three appointments, I had a check in meeting with my medical team to go over any side effects or other concerns, but this time it was just some blood work and then up to the chemo chair.
Luckily, I had another great nurse, Nadia, who got a good vein right away, though she did also urge me to get a port because of all the longterm stress the chemo drugs put on your veins. I'm still considering it, but the thought of having another surgery to get it inserted does not really appeal to me, especially since my veins seem to be holding up okay? It is really interesting to see how differently oncologists -- who deal with the more macro aspects of treatment -- and nurses -- who are the on-the-gound support -- view ports. Right now, I'm leaning towards just sticking with my IV infusion, especially if I keep having good vein luck, but it's good to know that at any point during this whole process I can always fall back on a port.
So, I mentioned above that this round was pretty routine...and it was from a medical standpoint, though I did have a fun surprise from Cathy, who has a talented colleague who also certified in Shiatsu massage therapy. Cathy kindly arranged to have her colleague, Gina, come to the chemo ward and give me a fantastic massage while I was being drugged up. It was incredibly relaxing and felt amazing. There are worst ways to spend the afternoon!
Then, after about 3 hours in the chair, the drugs were all in my system, and it was time to leave. By this point, I was RAVENOUSLY hungry and had a one track mind as to where I can get my next meal. The nurses say it's from the steroids, but I think it's just my natural appetite. Many people on steroids, particularly Dexamethasone, which I am taking, report that their appetite skyrockets, but I haven't really noticed a difference. As my parents like to say, I've always had a robustly healthy appetite (and, conversely, have a tendency to become a monster if I do not have food in my system every few hours). Thankfully, we found an amazing Mediterranean place called Wally's Falafel, where I gorged myself into a food coma. I guess I'm just a cool girl like J-Law.
As for side effects, thankfully, I've still been nausea free, but I have noticed the fatigue increase more after this treatment. Normally after chemo I feel normal the immediate few days afterwards, which I think corresponds with taking my steroids, but once I go off steroids on Day 5 -- so usually Tuesday after chemo -- I start feeling a bit more tired. This time, however, I noticed the fatigue almost instantly. Sigh.
The fatigue is still not too bad, though -- I spent the following evening introducing some unsuspecting friends to Castle Freak, a wonderfully over-acted mid 90s gem that just so happens to be one of Scott and my classic Shocktober gore movies. And if THAT didn't induce nausea -- there are some really disgusting scenes, which I don't want to spoil in case you happen to be a twisted consumer of shitty horror movies and might actually want to check it out (spoiler alert: the whole thing is on Youtube) -- I'm really not sure that chemo has a shot!
 |
| The Castle Freak may be scary/gross, but not scary/gross enough to make me nauseated! |
Aside from nausea, here are a few other updates on side effects (or lack there of) I've brought up over the last few weeks:
- Neuropathy: After my first treatment, I noticed numbness in my finger tips, which is called Neuropathy. Dr. Peterson mentioned that this, along with the fatigue, would likely increase as my treatments wore on. Maybe I'm lucky -- or maybe I've just become habituated to it -- but it seems like all of the numbness and tingling sensations have disappeared. Not complaining on this front!
- Bone pain: Many people experience severe bone pain after the Neulasta shots, which are given to increase the production of white blood cells. I had read many accounts that the bone pain from the shots is actually worse than the chemo, so before my first round of shots I was absolutely terrified I'd get some debilitating pain. After three separate rounds of shots, I'm happy to report that I have zero bone pain as a side effect. I suppose my mom, who is the one who actually injects me (I'm way too squeamish for that!) deserves a shout out. Thanks, mom! So, for those of you out there about to get your Neulasta shots, there is hope that it won't be so awful!
- Bloody nose: This has been new within the last few weeks or so. Whether it is the chemo or the changing seasons, every time I blow my nose it is tinted with blood. At first I freaked out about it -- because, ew, blood -- but my care team said that as long as your nose is not dripping, there is no cause for concern. The cause of this is likely that my platelet count was a little low at that point in my chemo cycle.
Other than that, I have a few other dates on the horizon:
- October 28th: DUH DUH DUH....The interim PET/CT scan. I'm already starting to get scanxiety about this bad boy. In a nutshell, the hope is that all the cancer cells will be completely gone at this point. If that is the case, I'll still go through the full rounds of treatment, but the main importance of this scan is that, if clean, it is a very indicator that a future relapse is unlikely, and that after ABVD I will be done battling The Hodge forever.
- October 30th: Chemo #5 and hopefully the results of the scan!
Thanks to all for reading, and for all your support and good vibes!
No comments:
Post a Comment