1 Day of Chemo Down!!

I slept fairly okay last night considering all of my anticipation for today's first chemo treatment. The roofers were here bright and early at 7 to start on our new roof, so there was no chance of missing my alarm.

My friend, Beth, and my Mom came to pick me up at 8:15 this morning. We all arrived safely to the cancer center and were surprised to see only 2 other chemo patients were there for treatment first thing. I picked a nice comfy rocker in the corner of the room and got my snacks, water, iPad and new blanket all set up. I will be posting some pictures soon of me with my blanket. My friend and neighbor, Kathy, made me the most amazing blanket! It has the breast cancer pink ribbon patterned all over it and it is soft and fleecy. It was warm and cozy, and despite not feeling overly chilly today, I found it very comforting as it represented yet another person in this journey that supports and cares for me.

Nurse Candace was very nice and spent a lot of time finding the right spot to access my port to put the injections into. She conferred with another nurse and by 8:45, I was starting my pre-med cocktail that would help with nausea and other side effects. There was a small bit of discomfort when the needle went in, but overall after having several other biopsies in the past few weeks, it wasn't too bad. There was a taste of metallic that burst through for a few minutes, but that passed pretty quickly as well. By just a few minutes after 9, I was starting my first chemo drug, Taxotere. It took approximately an hour to get all of it through the IV and so far I was feeling really good. Beth and Mom were taking notes as the nurse gave all the info to them of various things to expect, drugs I would be taking over the next few days, etc. In between note taking time, we all visited and made the best of the morning. Beth and Mom kept "threatening" they could run off and do something fun while I just sat there hooked up to IV, but truthfully neither one of them would have been anywhere else today. :)

Soon it was time to start my second drug, Cytoxan. When they started this one I tasted a lot of metallic taste. I ate some saltines and drank lots of water to get the drug pushed out of my body faster. It seemed to help. This drug would take about an hour and ten minutes to get through IV. While we waited, the nurse brought a hat cart over to look through various hats and scarves if I wanted any to take home. We laughed A LOT as I tried on all different styles and colors of hats. Mom and Beth both took pictures, so I will post those soon for everyone's enjoyment. There were a couple of good ones I took home, but others were just not me. It was a fun way to pass the time though! :)

Before we knew it, I was done by about 12:30. It honestly went by so fast and I still felt good. We decided to stop by home and get the kids and go have some lunch while I had some energy. We decided on sandwiches at Great Harvest and it was delicious! That was about the extent of my energy, so I came home to rest while Mom and the kids went to get my prescriptions filled. Beth stayed home with me in case I needed anything. The roofers were still pounding away, but making good progress on our new roof. I finally fell asleep for about an hour or so and felt rejuvenated when I woke up.

While I was sleeping Court, Beth, and Mom color coded my prescription bottles with my highlighted medication schedule. I have several pills to take for the next few days to help fight nausea, fatigue, and generally keep my body working as smoothly as possible.

All in all, I still feel good. My feet are a little swelled and I have mild headache from some of my meds, but am continuing to rest. Tomorrow morning I go in for my ultrasound so they can get another baseline of the tumor size, as they will monitor that throughout treatment. In the afternoon, I go in for the Neulasta shot to boost my white blood cells. Rest and meds in between. Thanks to everyone for their texts, emails, posts on Facebook, etc. Keep 'em coming! :)