Chemo Day
August 8, 2016
Today is Tuesday and it is my typical chemo day. I thought I would outline everything that goes on so you all know what someone going through chemo deals with on chemo day!
Today I miss my daughter as she has brought me to the past 4 chemo treatments. I so appreciate her because she drove 2.5 hours to our house--and then another 45 min to an hour to take me to treatments every other week. What a sweetheart and a trouper!! Today Brian brought me...love him too but not the same as having my sweet daughter with me!
Number 6 --this is a big treatment because not only is it HALFWAY to the number 12 goal, it is also the number that many say is ENOUGH of this type of treatment. There are clinical trials that are trying to find the data to say 6 is just as good as 12. I am so grateful to be at number 6 today!
6:15 a.m -- Hubby wakes me up.
6:20 a.m.-- My alarm goes off so I get up and hop in the shower---it will be my last shower for a couple days (yeah---wearing the pump home does not allow for easy showers).
7:05 a.m.---Leave the house for the hour long trip to Martinsville...normally wouldn't take this long-but construction for I69 is going on and it is a slow trip.
8:20 a.m- Arrive at Morgan County Oncology unit--check in and get my wristband ( just like they give you in the hospital).
8:30 a.m. -- Sent back to have blood drawn for labs.* They check my white blood counts and platelets and all types of other things. The WBC and the platelets are most important because they must be above a certain level before I can do treatment. The chemo does make those numbers go down each time. I have been wearing a Neulasta **(maybe you have seen the commercials) patch which delivers some medication to me through its self-injecting needle precisely 26 hours after my pump is removed. This med is supposed to stimulate the white blood cells to get busy and recover after chemo. More on that later.
9:00 a.m. -- Conference with Dr. She is upping some of my medications to try to help with the side effects --- I won't go into all of them---some are quite personal and no one wants to hear that stuff. There are plenty though and each week one stands out a little more and it is always different (SURPRISE). Not fun. Today we talked about what happens if my platelets continue to drop. They have reduced my chemo dose by 25% and can reduce by another 25% if necessary--but after that the chemo would be deemed ineffective. If this happens, likely I would not do chemo anymore. Not the best circumstances, so for now I hope my levels stay up to get a few more treatments in at least.
Not that I wouldn't be ecstatic if they said I was done!!! Gotta do what I can to prevent a recurrence.
9:30 --- Saline bag attached to my line--have to have a bag of this and two small bags of nausea preventative medication. Once these have entered my body, I have to wait half an hour and then the Oxaliplatin regimen of chemo is started. This medication takes two hours to infuse and then my pump is attached and I am on my way home.
11:20 ---Sent my hubby out to get me a salad for lunch and I have not started the chemo regimen yet. It will be probably around 3:00 when I am able to head for home. It is quite the day.
12:00 p.m. -- Pretty close to starting the Oxaliplatin.
12:05 p.m. -- Starting the oxaliplatin and lunch is served!
12:15 p.m. Oxaliplatin is started --has to run for two hours. I also have to have it paused every time i need to use the ladies' room--which is often.
1:30 p.m. - Neuropathy has started--can't touch anything cold such as my drink. Plus when I drink anything cold it feels like millions of tiny needles going down my throat--so usually I let things get to room temp or drink hot tea or hot chocolate or coffee......just for everyone's information---:)
3:30 p.m. Headed home
*I had a port put into my chest so that they don't have to find a vein and use my arm for infusions. Some people choose not to do this--which I totally get--but it is nice to not have to search for a vein in the crook of my arm or anywhere for that matter. I have some permanent bruises from past searches. The port is a little round metal contraption that has a rubber like top that can be penetrated with a needle. So once they poke through my skin into the port--the needle sticks are done. It is not too bad-- The port then has a tube that comes out of it and goes into my jugular vein so all of my fluids can go into that port and any blood draws can come out of it. The port placement did require a surgical procedure but it was not too bad--all outpatient.
** The Neulasta patch - while it has allowed me to keep my treatments on a routine level, is awful. First of all it is a combination of a computer, and medicine device. It is a little box about the size of half of my cell phone and is attached by VERY sticky tape on the back of my arm. Once it is attached it begins to beep a few times kind of like a camera taking a timed photo. Then it clicks and shoots a needle into my arm. I would rather it just shot it as a surprise than have those beeps and click--I am a wreck by the time that needle shoots out!!! Then after it shoots the needle, it waits precisely 26 hours and then injects the medicine over a 45 minute time period. That is when the fun begins. This last time, I had the worst bone aches, head aches, and joint pain ever. I couldn't get relief from this with anything. They have given me some new medications to help with the pain for this week. Praying that those help!!
***I am attaching a photo of the room --sometimes it can be depressing depending on the people that are here. Today it is not so bad. It is pretty quiet --some patients have come and gone pretty quickly. Some are not in their seats right at this moment. Sometimes some of the patients are very sick and this makes me sad and nervous.
I spoke too soon---one of the gals getting treatment has Hodgkins Lymphoma and she was crying due to having some terrible stomach pain later in the day---hard to witness!!
4:35-- Home ---have some comfort food in the crockpot. Ready to relax and maybe watch some olympics!! Thank you all for continued thoughts and prayers---I just wanted everyone to know what this day is like. Wearing my pump until Thursday at 1:30---then the Neulasta patch comes on and stays on until Friday evening---it is a week of medical stuff and then side effects until early next week. I guess hard work but if it gives me some more years on this earth I will do it!!!
Today is Tuesday and it is my typical chemo day. I thought I would outline everything that goes on so you all know what someone going through chemo deals with on chemo day!
Today I miss my daughter as she has brought me to the past 4 chemo treatments. I so appreciate her because she drove 2.5 hours to our house--and then another 45 min to an hour to take me to treatments every other week. What a sweetheart and a trouper!! Today Brian brought me...love him too but not the same as having my sweet daughter with me!
Number 6 --this is a big treatment because not only is it HALFWAY to the number 12 goal, it is also the number that many say is ENOUGH of this type of treatment. There are clinical trials that are trying to find the data to say 6 is just as good as 12. I am so grateful to be at number 6 today!
6:15 a.m -- Hubby wakes me up.
6:20 a.m.-- My alarm goes off so I get up and hop in the shower---it will be my last shower for a couple days (yeah---wearing the pump home does not allow for easy showers).
7:05 a.m.---Leave the house for the hour long trip to Martinsville...normally wouldn't take this long-but construction for I69 is going on and it is a slow trip.
8:20 a.m- Arrive at Morgan County Oncology unit--check in and get my wristband ( just like they give you in the hospital).
8:30 a.m. -- Sent back to have blood drawn for labs.* They check my white blood counts and platelets and all types of other things. The WBC and the platelets are most important because they must be above a certain level before I can do treatment. The chemo does make those numbers go down each time. I have been wearing a Neulasta **(maybe you have seen the commercials) patch which delivers some medication to me through its self-injecting needle precisely 26 hours after my pump is removed. This med is supposed to stimulate the white blood cells to get busy and recover after chemo. More on that later.
9:00 a.m. -- Conference with Dr. She is upping some of my medications to try to help with the side effects --- I won't go into all of them---some are quite personal and no one wants to hear that stuff. There are plenty though and each week one stands out a little more and it is always different (SURPRISE). Not fun. Today we talked about what happens if my platelets continue to drop. They have reduced my chemo dose by 25% and can reduce by another 25% if necessary--but after that the chemo would be deemed ineffective. If this happens, likely I would not do chemo anymore. Not the best circumstances, so for now I hope my levels stay up to get a few more treatments in at least.
Not that I wouldn't be ecstatic if they said I was done!!! Gotta do what I can to prevent a recurrence.
9:30 --- Saline bag attached to my line--have to have a bag of this and two small bags of nausea preventative medication. Once these have entered my body, I have to wait half an hour and then the Oxaliplatin regimen of chemo is started. This medication takes two hours to infuse and then my pump is attached and I am on my way home.
11:20 ---Sent my hubby out to get me a salad for lunch and I have not started the chemo regimen yet. It will be probably around 3:00 when I am able to head for home. It is quite the day.
12:00 p.m. -- Pretty close to starting the Oxaliplatin.
12:05 p.m. -- Starting the oxaliplatin and lunch is served!
12:15 p.m. Oxaliplatin is started --has to run for two hours. I also have to have it paused every time i need to use the ladies' room--which is often.
1:30 p.m. - Neuropathy has started--can't touch anything cold such as my drink. Plus when I drink anything cold it feels like millions of tiny needles going down my throat--so usually I let things get to room temp or drink hot tea or hot chocolate or coffee......just for everyone's information---:)
3:30 p.m. Headed home
*I had a port put into my chest so that they don't have to find a vein and use my arm for infusions. Some people choose not to do this--which I totally get--but it is nice to not have to search for a vein in the crook of my arm or anywhere for that matter. I have some permanent bruises from past searches. The port is a little round metal contraption that has a rubber like top that can be penetrated with a needle. So once they poke through my skin into the port--the needle sticks are done. It is not too bad-- The port then has a tube that comes out of it and goes into my jugular vein so all of my fluids can go into that port and any blood draws can come out of it. The port placement did require a surgical procedure but it was not too bad--all outpatient.
** The Neulasta patch - while it has allowed me to keep my treatments on a routine level, is awful. First of all it is a combination of a computer, and medicine device. It is a little box about the size of half of my cell phone and is attached by VERY sticky tape on the back of my arm. Once it is attached it begins to beep a few times kind of like a camera taking a timed photo. Then it clicks and shoots a needle into my arm. I would rather it just shot it as a surprise than have those beeps and click--I am a wreck by the time that needle shoots out!!! Then after it shoots the needle, it waits precisely 26 hours and then injects the medicine over a 45 minute time period. That is when the fun begins. This last time, I had the worst bone aches, head aches, and joint pain ever. I couldn't get relief from this with anything. They have given me some new medications to help with the pain for this week. Praying that those help!!
***I am attaching a photo of the room --sometimes it can be depressing depending on the people that are here. Today it is not so bad. It is pretty quiet --some patients have come and gone pretty quickly. Some are not in their seats right at this moment. Sometimes some of the patients are very sick and this makes me sad and nervous.
I spoke too soon---one of the gals getting treatment has Hodgkins Lymphoma and she was crying due to having some terrible stomach pain later in the day---hard to witness!!
4:35-- Home ---have some comfort food in the crockpot. Ready to relax and maybe watch some olympics!! Thank you all for continued thoughts and prayers---I just wanted everyone to know what this day is like. Wearing my pump until Thursday at 1:30---then the Neulasta patch comes on and stays on until Friday evening---it is a week of medical stuff and then side effects until early next week. I guess hard work but if it gives me some more years on this earth I will do it!!!
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