First Chemo
Yesterday was my first chemo treatment. I was little nervous, but it all went very smoothly. Rosie came with me and it was so nice to have her there. The facility is pleasant, we had a little private room, and I sat in a big reclining chair. The treatment lasted about 2 ½ hours. We picked out a movie to watch on the little VCR (“Best of Show”) so I was howling with laughter as the Gretchen the nurse came and went to check on my IV drip. The IV was on a rolling cart, so it was easy to get up and go to the bathroom.
Gretchen and then Dr. Smith explained all the possible side effects – nausea, fatigue, lowered immune system). There will be eight treatments (4 of Adriamycin/Cytoxan, then four of something else), two weeks apart. After that there will be a evaluation of the progress. If the radiation is successful in localizing the cancer, then there will be a mastectomy. I was aware of this, but it is still hard to speak about it. On the bright side, Dr. Smith thinks there’s no reason to remove the non-cancerous breast. (I’ve joined an IBC discussion list that has a lot of talk on varying issues like this).If there was no progress through chemotherapy, there would be no reason to do the mastectomy, and that would be a very bad prognosis.
Leaving the treatment I still felt fine, just a little light headed. At home I decided I felt like Indian food (!!!) and called a friend to bring over some take-out. Before the food came, I took a stroll to the Library and on the way back I felt some slight signs of nausea. In short, Indian food was the last thing I wanted, and I spent most of the evening clutching a plastic basin and wondering if I had just thrown up by $60 anti-nausea pill. Well, that was agonizing, but really much like a bad bout with flu or food poisoning.
I got a good night’s sleep and have felt pretty good today, just a little weak, I took a nice long nap. So maybe that will be the pattern for the treatments, I’ll feel my worst the night after and OK after that. I am still taking anti-nausea medication (They gave me some samples of the expensive pill.)
Gretchen and then Dr. Smith explained all the possible side effects – nausea, fatigue, lowered immune system). There will be eight treatments (4 of Adriamycin/Cytoxan, then four of something else), two weeks apart. After that there will be a evaluation of the progress. If the radiation is successful in localizing the cancer, then there will be a mastectomy. I was aware of this, but it is still hard to speak about it. On the bright side, Dr. Smith thinks there’s no reason to remove the non-cancerous breast. (I’ve joined an IBC discussion list that has a lot of talk on varying issues like this).If there was no progress through chemotherapy, there would be no reason to do the mastectomy, and that would be a very bad prognosis.
Leaving the treatment I still felt fine, just a little light headed. At home I decided I felt like Indian food (!!!) and called a friend to bring over some take-out. Before the food came, I took a stroll to the Library and on the way back I felt some slight signs of nausea. In short, Indian food was the last thing I wanted, and I spent most of the evening clutching a plastic basin and wondering if I had just thrown up by $60 anti-nausea pill. Well, that was agonizing, but really much like a bad bout with flu or food poisoning.
I got a good night’s sleep and have felt pretty good today, just a little weak, I took a nice long nap. So maybe that will be the pattern for the treatments, I’ll feel my worst the night after and OK after that. I am still taking anti-nausea medication (They gave me some samples of the expensive pill.)
posted by Liane | 6:51 PM
<< Home