When I got up this morning on World Cancer Awareness Day, I got some work out of the way. I was going to take a sick day for the full day, but things came up, and continued to do so during my treatment. So I guess I’ll be switching that to a half day. It never ends. ?
About an hour before the chemo, I had to take two anti-nausea medications and dexamethasone, which is a pretty powerful steroid. I had quite a large dose of it. It helps you to not feel too bad for a couple of days after the chemo, but it sucks when the steroids wear off, so I hear.
My appointment for another mammogram was moved from 12:45 to 13:00, followed by chemo at 13:20. Unfortunately, I had to wait almost half an hour to go in, so I was late to chemo by 20 minutes. No big deal though, as they knew I was already at the hospital.
I had to do another mammogram on the left (unaffected) side because the CT scan showed something. However, I was given the all clear there today. Good news. The mammogram equipment at this hospital is better than the equipment that was used back in November, so that’s reassuring.
When I got to the hospital, the nurse showed me around the chemo suite. Everyone is super friendly. The suite is quite nice with soft reclining chairs and a table to use my iPad if I want to get some work done, or watch a movie. There’s also a TV mounted above every chair, along with snacks and drinks.
Most of the people there were in their 60s and 70s, but I did see someone who looked to be in her 20s, and also someone who was around my age. It sucks for anyone, but I’m sure it especially sucks for the woman in her 20s. Also, everyone was there alone, which also sucks. The nurses are all amazing, but most of us would want someone to chat with to just pass the time. The nurses certainly do chat, but they also have other patients to see.
I had two friends do cool stuff for me. One made me a Spotify playlist to use for my chemo, and the other one got me a gorgeous plush plague nurse. He knows me too well. What he didn’t know is that I already ordered the matching plague doctor. So now I will have a pair whenever that shows up. The nurses loved it. ?
??⚕️ ?
The nurse explained everything as she went, which was great. She took the bandage off my port and cleaned the area, then she inserted the needle into the port on my chest. Even though it was done 8 days ago, there was zero pain. I had to look to see if she had even done it. Sure enough, there was a line coming out of the port. She covered it up with a clear bandage and got to work.
Blood was drawn from the port to make sure it works, then it was flushed with saline so that the blood wouldn’t clot in the port. From there, the nurse administered the doxorubicin (AKA red devil) with a giant syringe attached to the port line. We chatted for the 10 minutes it took for her to do that manual injection. The reason it’s done that way, is because doxorubicin can damage tissue if for some reason it doesn’t go straight into a vein. Because I have a port, the risk is almost 0, but they are still careful.
Next up, a bag of cyclophosphamide solution was connected to a pump. This was administered pretty much the same way saline is administered by IV. The whole process took 45 minutes, and I was given a beautiful knitted blanket to keep. Volunteers make these blankets, which is amazing.
At the moment, I feel totally normal. I know some people get tired later on in the evening on the first day, so we’ll see what happens. I have my pyjamas on, so I’m ready to go to bed at any time if need be.
Tomorrow, a home care nurse will come in to give me the $1600 Lapelga injection. I’m taking Claritin to hopefully stave off the bone pain. I’m allergic to Tylenol, so I don’t have many non-opioid options available. Advil and Aleve aren’t the best things to take because they can cause other issues.
So yeah. That’s about it for now. I’ll see what happens over the next 4 or 5 days. I spoke to a family member who had the same treatment, and she said that she did quite well through the treatment. Fingers crossed.