Round 1

Sep 13

SIDE EFFECTS FROM ROUND 1

Nausea & Loss of Appetite
Exhaustion
Itching Head
Achy Skin and Muscles

Well, it sucked BUT it was manageable.

Kicking off my first round, I had no idea what to expect. I went in with Brittany a bit earlier than needed, found all my pre-meds and then sat down to wait. And oh how we waited.

Once in, I had my first round of dose dense AC (Adriamycin & Cyclophosphamide) chemotherapy.

In total it only took about an hour and a half, I kept ice in my mouth while the nurse pushed through the 3 vials of my Adriamycin (aka The Red Devil) and then we hung out for another hour waiting for second bag of fluids to go through my IV.

Day One was honestly not so bad, aside from being SUPER drowsy (pre-chemo meds do that). Day Two, I met my oncologist in charge of my radiation and got the plan for that. While there, my bestfriend shot me up with my injection that will help boost my white blood cell count and help keep my immune system strong.

Luckily, knowing that the weekend would be the roughest for me, my mom was able to take the 2 small ones so my weekend was mostly spent napping. Balancing a weird tightrope of either being nauseous or drowsy, I’ve realized the best option is to just be stoned. With a joint, I can avoid the chemo nausea, keep my appetite, but I don’t get the dizzy or drowsy side effects that come with the prescribed meds. It does however lead to me being a bit more comical (or at least thinking I am).

By Day Six, the kids were getting ready for back to school and I was starting to feel a bit more like myself. Matt and I were even able to walk Jack to school and aside from being tired, I felt a lot more like my usual self. By Day Seven, I was back at the gym for a light workout and I am now pretty much back to normal.

In addition to my chemo, I also went in for a PET scan this week. This scan will show whether there is any metastasized cancer anywhere else in my body. Despite the fact that my CT came back clean, and my bone scan was pretty much ok, we feel this definitely gives us a more complete diagnosis and will help make sure we nip any run away lesions in the bud.

After a week of almost feeling completely normal, I’m gearing up to dive back into it. Fingers crossed it stays about the same as my first round. That said, I’m expecting my hair to start falling out a bit more during this next round.