Friday I received my first chemo treatment. I can't say it was a piece of cake, but as they say, "that which does not kill you only makes you stronger". That goes for cancer in general I'd say.
My porta cath seems to be stopped up so they can't draw blood, but it allows flushing and the chemo to go in. So next week they have something they flush through there that cleans off "fibers" that cause this. Not uncommon. But it will add about 2 hours to a 5 minute blood draw. Crapadoodle. But what else do I have besides time? lol
I am a part of a clinical trial that includes 3 chemo drugs: Taxol (Paclitaxel); Carbo (Carboplatin); and Avastin (Bevacizumab). The trial drug is the Avastin and how it works with the other drugs I will be getting. I did have a reaction to the first drug, Taxol, but as soon as they stopped the flow and waited about 1/2 hour, it went away. It is scary, though. I got severe lower back pains that also went down the front of my thighs; pain and heat across my chest and upper arms; and my blood pressure went up a bit. I didn't flush or anything else they really would have been concerned about but the nurses were all over me. They all have over 12 years experience as oncology nurses, with the head nurse well over 20, who has been with my doctor all that time. I feel very secure in their care. As they started the drug flow again, they explained that it may have just been a first time reaction, my body saying hey, I don't like this, but adjusting. Which thankfully turned out to be the case. No more reactions after that. Whew.
This first time took 7 1/2 hours to get the drugs in me. Could have been a little shorter but we discovered I have a "positional cath" which isn't something special just a nuisance. It just means the way it was positioned in my body and the way it settled causes the flow of the drugs to slow down or even stop depending on how I'm positioned. As long as I was reclined back, it flowed well. If I sat up or got up to walk it stopped flowing. It also flowed well if I sat up and breathed really fast, but I can't hyperventilate my way to a cure. LOL It kills my back to stay in that reclining position for a long time or maybe its the chair...but looks like I will have to "suck it up" as I'm fond of saying and deal with it. I'll try a different chair next time too.
I was able to eat a little, some greek yogurt and granola bars, and drink while getting this, since they also include an anti-nausea drug in your non-chemo drug cocktail. Drinking is extremely important as it keeps you hydrated and helps to flush the chemo out of your kidneys. Anything you can drink is fine, water, of course, being the best. The chemo does affect your taste buds, so things you may have liked before may not taste as good. As I've bitched about before, I hate water. But the MIO water additive that I've come to love still tastes OK so I'll get my fluids. My appetite will decrease, but as long as I keep up with my proteins and eat what I can, I should be OK. I certainly wouldn't suggest this as a super weight-loss plan, lol, but hey, if I have to go through it and as long as I eat right, I'll take whatever weight loss comes along. I, as opposed to some others, have the spare weight to lose. There was one lady in there who definitely didn't have the weight to lose and has lost 18 pounds in 3 weeks. But she has been having huge problems with the nausea...they've had to try everything with her.
I was feeling pretty hungry when I got home, so had some shrimp and sweet potatoes. Went down just fine. Then about 2 hours later, the nausea hit me. Big time. Couldn't throw up, wish I could have. I already had the 1 anti-nausea drug here that I'm supposed to take 3 times a day, but starting Saturday morning. I had another one waiting at the pharmacy that can be taken in between when needed, but thought it could wait to be picked up until today. Bad plan. So finally at midnight I took one of the main ones...screw the plan I had to start those at 7 in the morning to get on a schedule. And I'm glad I did, that with one of my clonazapam, which also helps with nausea (who knew?) and within 20 minutes my nausea went away. Thank the powers that be! Still had a restless night but at least I felt fine.
Feeling good this morning, slept in and my morning(?) coffee tastes good. Jack and I have discovered that planning anything for the day after chemo is not a good idea. So I'm just doing what I want and will take it easy. The hard fatigue isn't supposed to hit until 3-5 days after the chemo, so I've got some time I guess before I deal with that. My hair should start falling out in about 2 weeks. Yippee-skippee.
So far, so good, I will say. Positive thinking all the way!
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