Chemo #1, Day 8

It's been a week since my first chemo and for the most part, I have been pretty pleased with the side effects. I am starting to notice some joint pain in my knees, back and groin area. I believe this is from the Nuelasta injection.

I have ran into the chemo constipation and have been taking Senokot S for it. That seems to be working pretty well and no stomach cramping for me. I have been noticing that the nausea is a little more but only in the morning... if I take a nausea pill in the morning, I am good all day. Thats really it... nothing more. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

Chemo #1, Day 2 and 3

Day 2 and so far so good... Had to go in for my Nuelasta injection. I was given a choice of my arm or my stomach. I asked the nurse which one would hurt less and she said that people have told her that in the stomach. I tried it in the stomach... I am a 200 lb woman with a nice roll of fat and I felt nothing. Thank goodness.... Beyond that, it was an uneventful day. Ate normally, did some running around. No nausea meds today.

Day 3.... started off good. Ate breakfast and did some running around. Had a late lunch at Del Taco and got a little more stomach troubles later in the evening. Not sure if it is related to the food or the chemo, but I did take a nausea med just to make sure. Oh and yes... still peeing orangish.

Chemo #1, Day 1

Today was my first chemo infusion. For the most part it was pretty easy and painless. I was a little worried since my port was still tender, but they were able to use it and the needle poke wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Best part is that they do the blood from the port also so no more arm sticks that I know of.

This chemo cocktail wasn't as long as my husband's was for his colon cancer a few years ago. This one was a bag of nausea meds dripped through the IV. When that was completed, they pushed in the IV a small vial of Adavant and then the A (Adriamycin) part of the AC was pushed into the IV very slowly. It is a little scary that this drug is red and there was 2 vials of it. Oh and by the way, you will pee red for a few times after getting that drug. Then they hung the C (Cytoxan) part of the AC. That drips for about an hour and you are all done. Only about 2 hours.

I left and went home for a while, then went to drop off prescriptions at Walmart, had dinner and then picked back up the prescriptions. So far I am doing pretty good... It is now 5 hours later and I am a little tired but thats it. Really hope it stays that way.

Work and Port Placement

Well it is my first week back to work and I have appointment 4 out of 5 days. Tuesday is my port placement, Wednesday is the stress test with the cardiologist, Thursday is the plastic surgeon and Friday is my first day of chemo.

Today was my port placement. The procedure itself wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The took me in the back and then put in an IV for the "happy juice". This is just to take the edge off. Once in the room, they do an ultrasound to check the neck vein. Then he does some local anesthesia that feels like a bee sting. After that he put in the tube to the vein first and then placed the port in the chest. Stitched it up and closed it up and then I was sent back to the room to wait for an hour just to make sure everything was alright.

I can tell you that although the procedure was easy, it is not too fun after the local wears off. I am having more of an issue with the neck area than the chest area. That may be because the chest is still numb from the mastectomy.... not sure but it is so bad that I am hitting the pain meds.... lots of ice and you have to keep stretching it but man it hurts. I sure hope it gets better tonight because I have that stress test tomorrow.

Leave of Absence

It has been a very busy time off. After the surgery, I met with the breast surgeon who told me the pathology report came back as everything clear on the right side but the left side had a 2 tumors. The largest one was 8.5 cm and the other was almost 2 cm. They removed the node pad with 11 nodes and 9 of them had cancer. The pathologist staged it as a 3A. The breast surgeon said that means chemo and radiation.

I saw the plastic surgeon and they started the fills. The first time they did the fills, the assistant completed it. She was only able to get one done. The next week, the dr only filled the one that was missed. 

I saw the oncologist to discuss the chemo. We will be doing 4 doses AC (Adriamycin and Cyclophosphamide) every other week. When that is complete we will be doing 4 doses of Taxol again every other week. The day after each chemo, I will go back to the chemo center to have a Neulasta shot to help with the white blood count. The oncologist also said that this chemo is hard on the heart so I have to be cleared by the cardiologist. I will also need to have a port-a-cath put into my chest... JOY JOY

Same day I saw the oncologist, I met with the radiologist. He said that I will be receiving 6 1/2 weeks of radiology but not until the chemo is complete. I don't have to meet with him again until December.

Now off to the cardiologist for an echo-cardiogram. Probably something they should have done prior to surgery since it would have been a better read without the tissue expanders. The cardiologist released me for chemo but wants to do a stress test. That will be next Wednesday.

Finally got a call from the place that puts in the ports and my appointment is Tuesday. Not looking forward to it.

Well we will see what next week holds. It will be my first week back at work.