For the Record: Treatment #7

Feel free to skip this one, I just figured I should jot this stuff down while it's fresh in my memory...

Friday
Drove into the city and parked at the CHEAP garage. (At the last treatment, the guy at the front desk FINALLY told us the garage on the next block did a special rate for the Center. We'd been parking at the closer garage which cost $31 each time.)

Arrived at SVCCC at 10:30am. Had bloodwork done. Took the blood from my hand rather than the usual crook of the arm. I think this is because they had trouble with my port during the last treatment and so wanted to "save" the vein in case they needed it.

As usual, had to wait to see the onc. Finally saw her around 11:45am (apptmt was for 11am). She told me I didn't have to do the Neulasta if I didn't want to, altho it could risk getting my next (and final) treatment on time if my counts were too low. An alternative would be to wait a week, come in to get my counts checked and if they were low, do one (or more) shots of Neupogen instead.

She also told me that she and her nurse will be out on August 31st, but they could write the orders in advance so I could still do my treatment. If I prefer to have at least her nurse there, I can move the treatment to Thurs (particularly if I do the Neulasta).

She agreed to give me some more Vicodin (I had been using the "leftovers" from my surgery, but since I only had a few left, was using them VERY sparingly, like 1 per treatment.)

Finally started treatment around 12:30ish. As usual, started with a Pepcid first (orally) and then the benadryl and decadron (by IV). The chemo nurse, Meghan, had a little trouble with the port, but not as much as the chemo nurse had last time. This thing just needs to work one more time...

No nausea with the Taxol, so actually ate lunch: turkey sandwich and a nectarine.

The benadryl makes me sleepy, so slept for a good chunk of the treatment. The treatment chair comes equipped with a personal TV w/movie channels so dozed through/watched "It Could Happen to You," "Men in Black II" and "Miss Congeniality 2." The hubby took a walk to Barnes & Noble and got me a copy of "Stranger Than Fiction." Left around 5pm.

In the car, got my usual bag of goodies from mom. Each treatment, she gives me a plush dog, so we now have a collection at the foot of our bed. She also gave me a biography of Edith Wharton, a beaded ring and carved wooden box.

We ordered in Italian for dinner. The benadryl had worn off, so I actually was awake for the evening and went to bed at a normal hour.

Saturday
Basically felt good all day.

The hubby went to help my cousin & wife paint their new apartment. Mom and I slept late. Her hubby came and took us to lunch down by the river (it was a beautiful day). Then Mom and her hubby went home and I watched more movies ("Men in Black" and "Being John Malkovich"). When my hubby got home, we ordered in Chinese and had a mini-"Northern Exposure" marathon. Also did the Neulasta shot. Decided not to take any chances on having to postpone my final treatment.

Sunday
Went to my mom's. My brother came too and the 3 of us played Scrabble all afternoon.

The "tenderness" started to set in. After every treatment, I get this thing (I may have described it before) where all my soft tissue feels really tender to the touch. So, basically, if I don't move, I'm fine. But if I move or someone touches me, it hurts.

I took a Vicodin when I got home and another late that night.

Monday
Took a sick day. Read/dozed all morning. Finally got up around 1:30pm. The tenderness dissipated during the day.

Went out to dinner at the restaurant on the corner w/the hubby and his friend from work. During dinner, the bone pain started to set in (ah, joy). Took a Vicodin.

Tuesday
Felt basically normal.

Worked from home. I was originally planning to go into work in the afternoon, but the weather was really crappy so decided it was better to just work from home the whole day. Got caught up on e-mail, participated on a conference call, did some work-related reading.

At bedtime, the bone pain was back (it hadn't really bothered me all day) so took a Vicodin in to get to sleep.

Wednesday
Back to normal and back at work.

Only one more to go and the next one should be "easier" because NO NEULASTA!

FAQ: Am I Working?

A couple of folks have asked me whether I've been working through chemo.

The answer is a qualified yes.

Before all this started, I already worked a "compressed" schedule, which means I work a longer day Mon-Thu and then have every other Friday off. Those every-other-Fridays are now my treatment days. On top of that, I have a "medical flexiplace" agreement in place, which means I can work from home all or part of the week following my treatment. The past 2 treatments, I've taken the Monday following as a sick day and then worked all or part of Tuesday from home. I also go in late when I need to.

So, the short answer is that I am working, but in a very good situation with a very understanding and supportive boss for which I am very grateful.

(And this week I'm on vacation.)

Only 1 More Shot!

Whoopee!!!!!

I think I mentioned before that I've had to give myself an injection of Neulasta 24hrs after every treatment to keep my white blood cells high enough to keep getting chemo (i.e., to keep myself well enough to keep getting poisoned...). Anyway, I just talked to the nurse today and, of course, I don't need a Neulasta shot after my final treatment because it's the final one. (I should have figured this out myself, but didn't. Chalk it up to chemo brain.) So that means only 1 more. Yippee!!!

One of the many injustices of this whole thing...

The steroids they give you to stave off the nausea of chemo can actually cause you to GAIN weight.

So, for those of you who were wondering if I've suddenly dropped a bunch of weight, the answer is no.

I am happy to report, though, that I've managed not to gain any. Probably out of pure stubbornness.

Between the nausea from treatments 3 & 4 and the deranged tastebuds my eating habits have been, shall we say, a bit weird.

It's Official...

Chemo sucks.

I realize this isn't earth-shattering news, but the first couple of treatments went so well I was sort of hoping to sail through this whole thing. Anyway, the last 2 have been much harder--more nausea, more tiredness, more achiness, and--as my oncologist called it--"deranged taste buds," which means that I get this weird taste in my mouth that lasts about a week and makes some foods taste sort of funny.

The good news is, I'm done with this particular drug combo and the next drug, Taxol, is supposed to be easier to tolerate (and isn't supposed to cause nausea). The bad news is I know have all these psychological nausea triggers--like the smell of rubbing alcohol--so I may get nauseous anyway. AND the administration of the Taxol takes FOREVER. The actual drug itself takes 3 hours, but with the bloodwork and pre-meds, they told me to plan on being their for ~5 hours. Because it takes so long and because they have to monitor me for any allergic reaction the first time around, I can't do the treatment in the evening like I have been, so my next treatment will be Friday, July 20th during the day.

So I have between now and then to conquer this psychological-nausea-trigger-thing. All advice welcome.