When I started this blog, I assumed I would document all the symptoms of chemo and feeling miserable. Was I ever wrong. During the AC portion of the chemo, I had one Sunday every two weeks when I felt like I had a hangover without nausea. Then I was almost back to normal for work on Monday morning. Other than that, it was life as usual. Working out, playing video games, and whatever else we do during COVID-19.
I have completed all four rounds of AC chemo, and I have done two of the four rounds of Paclitaxel (Taxol). I have also started getting Herceptin, which I will continue on with for a year after chemo is over. The two types of chemo are markedly different. Where AC chemo makes you feel like someone tried to poison you and didn’t quite manage it, Taxol is more about pain and mouth sores for some people.
When I get Taxol on Thursdays, I feel like I could fight a polar bear with my bare (see what I did there?) hands and emerge as the victor. The problem is that the steroids start to wear off on Saturday and are gone on Sunday. The pain is not bad enough that I need to take anything for it, but the best way to explain it is that it is shooting nerve pain all over. I can’t take Tylenol anyway, so my options are limited. Advil is bad while on chemo, because it can cause internal bleeding and other nastiness. I also get some bone pain, but that’s likely from the injection that I have to give myself to boost my blood counts, not the Taxol.
Once I get past Sunday, it has been clear sailing. All the discomfort is over by Monday, then I have a week and a half before I get to do it all over again.
So yeah. Two more rounds to go, then I’m done with the chemo on May 13th. I assume I will get a break for a couple of weeks before going on to the 20 rounds of radiation. I’m dreading having to drive to Oshawa every weekday (or any day, for that matter), but it’s just four weeks, then it’s over.
The AC chemo was pretty much unremarkable. The symptoms I had were very mild, and nothing worse than having a mild flu for a day, usually the Sunday after treatment.
My chemo should have been tomorrow, but it got moved to today last minute because of the long weekend. I’m spending 7 hours here today, so I figure I have time to provide an update.
This time around, I am getting Herceptin (trastuzumab) along with Taxol (Paclitaxel) every other week. The major difference is that instead of 90 minutes, it takes more like 7 hours and I don’t need to take any medication beforehand.
The first medication that was administered was Herceptin, then the nurse watched me for reactions for about an hour. Then the chemo nurse administered Dexamethasone, Benadryl, and Famotidineto counteract any allergic reactions, etc. I felt very little, but I had a slight headache from the Herceptin and ended up feeling nauseous. Now, I just feel like sleeping because of the Benadryl. So yeah. Not very exciting!
So far, so good. The only issue I had was that I woke up at 02:00 in a cold sweat Friday morning and my eyes were very dry. Because my clothes had sweat on them, I had to change and wipe my skin down so I wouldn’t have chemo drugs all over me.
Note to self: always have a change of pyjamas in the bathroom that I can easily get to. Also, get the humidifier going in the bedroom.
I did all of my meetings with no issues, but I did get a slight queasy feeling in my stomach in the afternoon. I took the nurse’s advice from a couple of weeks ago and took the anti-nausea medication immediately.
Problem solved, except for the accompanying drowsiness. Oops. I used my desk cycle to get some exercise, and that seemed to help with the effects of the medication.
In the afternoon, a nurse came by to show me how to do the Lapelga injection to boost my white blood cells. It’s pretty much the same as giving myself a B12 shot, so no big deal. The only difference is that the syringe is pre-loaded, and the needle automatically retracts when you let go of the plunger. I will be fine doing the injection on my own from here on.
This shot has the potential to cause excruciating bone pain, so the advice is to take Claritin a day before, and for three days after. Fingers crossed that the Claritin will work, because I’m allergic to Tylenol and I will only take opiates if the pain is unbearable. I will if I have to, but I really don’t want to.
In the evening, I just relaxed and watched YouTube, which is the same as many of my regular evenings.
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. ?
Accompanied by my plague nurse. ??⚕️ ?
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.
