Chemo #1
My first day was longer than the rest. When I got there they hadn’t received the results from my echocardiogram yet so I had to wait for them to get ahold of the cardiology office for that. Before I started and every 3 months through my treatment (and once after) I had to get an echocardiogram. Its just an ultrasound of the heart to check the function. My Phesgo medication can temporarily alter the heart function. My oncologist explained that this is always temporary with this med. Some makes permanent changes, but this would not be. If any of my echo’s came back abnormal we would take a break until my heart function was normal again. Throughout my treatment this never happened. The one we were waiting for would be my baseline and the one used to see if any changes were happening.
Once that finally came in, I was good to go. On the first day they start things slower to make sure everything is well tolerated so day 1 I was there for about 8 hours. Good thing I had my husband to go find me some lunch!
For some reason, even with the outside temps reaching 100 degrees sitting for chemo makes people cold. Maybe its sitting still that long, maybe its just their A/C but a blanket was necessary! I’m guessing my cold caps probably didn’t help with that. One of my best friends made an amazing quilt for me when she found out I had cancer. I LOVE it! A family member sent me a lap blanket on loan that was made from scraps of material from our late grandmother and aunt! Very special!
At the end of each chemo infusion I was also given an on body auto injector (this would administer a shot to help restore my white blood cells) that worked on a timer. After 27 hours went by it would administer the meds over the next hour. The nurse placed this on my lower abdomen with an adhesive strip and it started a countdown for about a minute before it “stuck” me. It sounded like a tiny little bomb was about to go off in my pants. If felt like a rubber band snap when it stuck me with a tiny little catheter tube that would stay there until after the shot was administered. When it was done I could remove it and throw it away.
It was definitely a long day. I didn’t feel any side effects for a few days.
Then it all came! My chemo treatments were always on a Friday and my “misery day” was always on a Monday. 3 days after my infusions were the worst with side effects. They eventually tapered and I was feeling better in 3 to 10 days depending on which treatment I was on. My first one was the worst but only lasted a few days and the side effects got easier but lasted longer the further along I got. I was told since the meds are cumulative each one would be worse than the last, but mine didn’t work that way. Who am I to play by the rules? Ha!
So what did I feel?
Pain in my lymph nodes (Claritin helped, I learned this later), weak, dizzy, light headed, metallic taste in my mouth, my tongue felt sandy and gritty, tired, constipation. I almost passed out twice.
Showers became quite an event. I had to wash, rest then rinse, rest, dry, rest then eventually get dressed and rest again before I could go back out to my chair. I have never been weaker or felt so frail.
About 10 days after chemo my hair started falling out. Cold caps helped but it definitely started. I ran a brush through my hair and felt a weird sort of “pull” and was shocked with the amount of hair in my brush. My hair is naturally really thick so it wasn’t noticeable to others but for the next several days I was very gentle with my hair. Every chemo infusion I had a good week starting around day 10 that I was very careful not to pull my hair or make it worse.