Sorry for delaying this post! I started it earlier today, but just got really tired.
Yesterday 2/16 was my first chemo session at the Round Rock Austin Cancer Centers. I went into the chemo lounge and it was fairly full. The oncology nurse asked a patient's wife if she could swap chairs so Damien could have a chair next to me. Everyone - nurses, patients, patients' family members - is so nice! We talked with several people - one was a lady who had had beat breast cancer 7 years ago and I wasn't sure why she's back. Another lady was undergoing her first chemo treatment. Another guy was there for IV iron before chemo.
My oncologist isn't at that location on Mondays so we saw his nurse practitioner who is really good and responsive. She gave me the rundown of pre-meds: aloxi, palonosetron, dexamethasone, decadron, emend. They're mostly steroids and anti-nausea meds so I wouldn't feel like complete crap. The nurse, Terri-Lynn (?), accessed my port and started me off on those drips and I made myself comfy in the lounge chair. The pre-meds take about an hour and then she starts the chemo drugs. My chemo regimen is called ABVD because it consists of 4 drugs. I start off with a small test dose of Bleomycin to make sure I don't have any reactions in 30 minutes. After that, the rest of the Bleomycin is given. The next drip was a fat bag of Dacarbazine. The last 2 drugs were given to me as a push into the line - Adriamycin (the really red drug in the pic below) and Vinblastine. And I'm done! It took a total of 4 hours. I napped a few times during the drips and got nauseous once, but didn't throw up. Damien left to get my anti-nausea meds that I had forgotten to pack and came back with lunch - a almond butter sandwich, apple sauce, and banana. I was STARVING. I ate the sandwich and apple sauce in the lobby. The rest of the day was spent resting and just chilling.
Today, I woke up feeling good! No pain in my chest or coughing! I usually have to take a vicodin as soon as I get up because the chest pain is overwhelming, but not today! I didn't take one till about 5PM when I started getting phlegm and a cough (that's gone now though). I felt really tired all day and could't really focus on reading or TV. I napped several times and just kept drinking water. My appetite was meh - I could eat but didn't really feel like it. But all in all, it was a good day!
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| Chemo number 1 |
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| Adriamycin |
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| Flowers :) |
I've been thinking about how your first treatment went. Keep writing--it's great to get the updates directly from you! Also, it hurts me to know that you've been waking up to such intense pain. I had no idea it got to that point :(
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