Our day started off leaving our house around 7:30 in the morning. Ryan turned on the radio and the darth vadar theme was playing on the classical channel, so he turned that up to help us get in the mood of "kicking ass" in his words. I went for a chest x-ray at 8:30 and then to the other end of the hospital for an EKG. I probably won't get these results until I see my doctor next in a couple of weeks.
My chemo was scheduled for 9:30, but because of the large number of cancer patients, they are usually running a bit behind. So, at 10 they came and got me and took me to a new area - the area where people are there for more than 4 hours. It includes a bed and a little TV to keep you occupied.
They started by finding a vein that was good enough, that took 2 pokes. Then they started dripping the cocktails to stop most of the possible side effects. My first mix was Bendryl and Zantac, one for potential allergic reactions and the other for heartburn. The next mix was Zofran and Dexamethosone, one for anti-nausea and the other a steroid to kick up the anti-nausea even more.
After those, I had a really hard time keeping my eyes open. But, next was the first of two drugs that could cause me problems so I had to stay awake at least for the first 15 minutes to watch for what might come. The first drug was Taxol and it went great. No effects at all, other than as soon as the 15 minutes was up I fell right asleep. This drip took just over 3 hours and the major effects I had so far were hunger and sleepiness - not bad!
Tricia came for a visit around lunch and Ryan went and got us some food. That was really weird for me. As most of you know, Tricia had a very scary ordeal last summer and fall and I spent a lot of time with her at the hospital. She was usually sleepy and telling me to just go home. I would always tell her to just sleep and I would just sit there. It wasn't until yesterday that I got to realize first hand why that must have been so hard for her. Because you feel really guilty that someone came all the way from the South End to spend time with you and all you can do is sleep!
The next drip started around 2:30 and it was the Herceptin. It had the same scary side effects for the first 15 minutes, so I sat up again in bed and waited. Luckily for me (and all of your positive anti-nausea vibes), this one went great as well. No side effects! So, back to sleep for me. This drip finished at about 4:15 and then I was under observation until 5:15.
Because of the freezing rain we got in Calgary yesterday, we were home around 6:30 and I was asleep shortly after. Now because of my massive amount of sleep lately - I am not sleepy anymore at 2 am.
The next few days are to watch again for what may come. The big things to expect are nausea & vomiting (so far so good, keep your fingers crossed), muscle & joint pain - which has started a bit, but could get to the feeling like a "bus hit you" in my nurse's words and the neuropathy - numbness in my limbs. I will keep you posted - as long as I can still type!!!
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