Miracles and Wonders
My first fun chemo day
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In case anyone missed the joke (I'm looking at you caregivers), I’m being sarcastic. To
even say the words fun and chemo in the same breath is just wrong. There is really
nothing fun at all about chemo days. It’s been 5 weeks since my final 7th round of
chemo and I still have battle scars in the form of needle marks, bruised areas and small
knobby schlerosed areas in my veins. I’m hoping that these injured areas will all
eventually fade away but it looks like it take a while. Nothing in the pile of brochures
you can pick up at the doctor's office, with names like "So you have cancer", can fully
describe all the petty annoyances and discomforts that go with chemo or even
accurately describe all the bigger pains and problems. My intent is not to scare anyone
but to describe a few of my chemo treatments honestly and openly with some humor
and positivity. I’m hoping to give you more detail than the nurses and pamphlets gave
me before I went in for my chemotheraphy treatments. Hopefully, if you are armed
with a little more information, you'll be better prepared.
This story is an excerpt from an email that I sent to my sister the evening after my first
chemo treatment which actually wasn't bad. It was some of the later ones that were
the more difficult.
“....Well it's Monday, but it might as well be any day of the week for me. Usually I
hate it when it's late Sunday night because I know my weekend is over and I'll have to
get up extra early to go into work Monday. But you know what? I actually miss that!!
A normal busy workday is really a beautiful thing, and once I get well, I will never
complain about Mondays again. So don't let the long hours and all the office politics at
work get you down. It's sort of a drag really, taking it easy, day in and day out. You
know this morning when we drove to the hospital for my chemo, I saw all the kids
waiting for their school bus, and I realized it's Monday. Seems like every day is like a
Saturday or Sunday. Plus, I'm shocked that it's Nov 7th already. I keep thinking it's
still October.
So you probably want to know all about my chemo. It went fine. Really a piece of
cake so far. For the chemo, I'm taking a combination of 2 chemicals to battle the
cancer and also some other meds to try to lessen the side effects. On top of that, 12
hours and 6 hours prior to chemo, I have to take a handful of pills (steroids actually) to
counteract the expected joint pain, tingling and numbness. So since I had an 8:30 am
appointment that meant that I had to set my alarm for 2:30 (AM!!) so I could get up,
take the pills, and eat a snack since they had to be taken with food. It was weird to
wake up and eat teddy grahams with milk in the middle of the night! I felt like a five
year old who'd had a bad dream.
I had thought that they said the chemo would take 2 hours, but I guess that's for my
PET scan tomorrow. It’s hard to keep track of everything. The overall game plan is
that I’ll do chemo treatments and follow these treatments up with blood tests and scans
to see how well the chemo treatment is working on my cancer. The PET scan is so
that we will know to what extent the cancer has spread and establish a baseline for
comparison with later scans. Anyway, it turns out the chemo I get takes about 5 hours
not 2!! First they give me an IV in the back of my hand and pump in saline, then two
pouches of pre-meds to help fight the nausea and inflammation and other bad reactions
to the primary drugs. After the pre-meds, I get first of two actual chemo drugs. The
real chemo comes in larger pouches and is pumped in very slowly. After these 2 drugs
they pump in the rest of the saline. Yep, 5 hours. Luckily with an early 8:30
appointment, I got one of the chemo chairs with a tv. Good thing too because when I
found out it was going to be a four hour treatment, I knew I hadn't taken enough
magazines to read.
Chuck sat in a regular chair beside me and my chair was more of a recliner that could
lay back in case I wanted to sleep. Another good thing since one of the pre-meds
causes drowsiness. So for the time it took to pump in the chemicals, I mostly watched
some tv, ate snacks, and read a newspaper that Chuck brought back with him after
going to the cafeteria for lunch. I didn't have any reactions so far other than boredom.
Of course, I commented to the nurse when I was done, "Oh good, now I can go home
and watch more tv and read even more newspapers and magazines." Don’t hate me for
this, but taking it easy is hard!
I believe they have me planned for 2 more chemo sessions. I'm on a 3 weeks cycle so
I won't have to go back for three weeks, and then three weeks after that. I guess this
gives my body enough time to regain strength and get my white blood count back up
enough to cope with the next treatment. I don’t know how much this chemo will wear
me down. I'll have to see how tired I am tomorrow on day 2, and sort of figure that it
may be 3 times worse??? I'm really supposed to avoid exposure to anyone with a cold
or flu so I figure I really need to limit any activity out of the house. My instructions say
I can go out to eat or to a movie or shop but avoid busy times and exposure to anyone
sick. Well it's the start of the holiday shopping season, so that means it's always busy,
and I know from my workplace that people are out and about sick with colds all the
time. So I guess I need to be a hermit.
It's now nearly 6 pm, about 3 hours since I've finished chemo. It took 5 hours for
pumping in the chemicals but all in all it was about 7 hours at the hospital for my
treatment. I'm still doing fine. I was thinking I would probably be sitting with a bucket
in my hand and having all these awful side effects, but so far, nothing!! Maybe God is
protecting me. Earlier this morning when I was lying in bed, I was praying about the
chemo and I felt a nice warm sensation like the comforting hand of God on me. I had
been fairly freaked out about the chemo until then, but I really was fine today knowing
God is with me. Chuck says that with all of God's healings require faith, and I do
believe. I've been reading Matthew the last few days and in one verse it says all you
have to do is ask God and you will be given what you ask for just like a child asks his
father. I just need to have faith....”
The first chemo session went pretty smoothly, my chemo story continues in "Hi Ho, Hi
Ho, its off to chemo I go"
even say the words fun and chemo in the same breath is just wrong. There is really
nothing fun at all about chemo days. It’s been 5 weeks since my final 7th round of
chemo and I still have battle scars in the form of needle marks, bruised areas and small
knobby schlerosed areas in my veins. I’m hoping that these injured areas will all
eventually fade away but it looks like it take a while. Nothing in the pile of brochures
you can pick up at the doctor's office, with names like "So you have cancer", can fully
describe all the petty annoyances and discomforts that go with chemo or even
accurately describe all the bigger pains and problems. My intent is not to scare anyone
but to describe a few of my chemo treatments honestly and openly with some humor
and positivity. I’m hoping to give you more detail than the nurses and pamphlets gave
me before I went in for my chemotheraphy treatments. Hopefully, if you are armed
with a little more information, you'll be better prepared.
This story is an excerpt from an email that I sent to my sister the evening after my first
chemo treatment which actually wasn't bad. It was some of the later ones that were
the more difficult.
“....Well it's Monday, but it might as well be any day of the week for me. Usually I
hate it when it's late Sunday night because I know my weekend is over and I'll have to
get up extra early to go into work Monday. But you know what? I actually miss that!!
A normal busy workday is really a beautiful thing, and once I get well, I will never
complain about Mondays again. So don't let the long hours and all the office politics at
work get you down. It's sort of a drag really, taking it easy, day in and day out. You
know this morning when we drove to the hospital for my chemo, I saw all the kids
waiting for their school bus, and I realized it's Monday. Seems like every day is like a
Saturday or Sunday. Plus, I'm shocked that it's Nov 7th already. I keep thinking it's
still October.
So you probably want to know all about my chemo. It went fine. Really a piece of
cake so far. For the chemo, I'm taking a combination of 2 chemicals to battle the
cancer and also some other meds to try to lessen the side effects. On top of that, 12
hours and 6 hours prior to chemo, I have to take a handful of pills (steroids actually) to
counteract the expected joint pain, tingling and numbness. So since I had an 8:30 am
appointment that meant that I had to set my alarm for 2:30 (AM!!) so I could get up,
take the pills, and eat a snack since they had to be taken with food. It was weird to
wake up and eat teddy grahams with milk in the middle of the night! I felt like a five
year old who'd had a bad dream.
I had thought that they said the chemo would take 2 hours, but I guess that's for my
PET scan tomorrow. It’s hard to keep track of everything. The overall game plan is
that I’ll do chemo treatments and follow these treatments up with blood tests and scans
to see how well the chemo treatment is working on my cancer. The PET scan is so
that we will know to what extent the cancer has spread and establish a baseline for
comparison with later scans. Anyway, it turns out the chemo I get takes about 5 hours
not 2!! First they give me an IV in the back of my hand and pump in saline, then two
pouches of pre-meds to help fight the nausea and inflammation and other bad reactions
to the primary drugs. After the pre-meds, I get first of two actual chemo drugs. The
real chemo comes in larger pouches and is pumped in very slowly. After these 2 drugs
they pump in the rest of the saline. Yep, 5 hours. Luckily with an early 8:30
appointment, I got one of the chemo chairs with a tv. Good thing too because when I
found out it was going to be a four hour treatment, I knew I hadn't taken enough
magazines to read.
Chuck sat in a regular chair beside me and my chair was more of a recliner that could
lay back in case I wanted to sleep. Another good thing since one of the pre-meds
causes drowsiness. So for the time it took to pump in the chemicals, I mostly watched
some tv, ate snacks, and read a newspaper that Chuck brought back with him after
going to the cafeteria for lunch. I didn't have any reactions so far other than boredom.
Of course, I commented to the nurse when I was done, "Oh good, now I can go home
and watch more tv and read even more newspapers and magazines." Don’t hate me for
this, but taking it easy is hard!
I believe they have me planned for 2 more chemo sessions. I'm on a 3 weeks cycle so
I won't have to go back for three weeks, and then three weeks after that. I guess this
gives my body enough time to regain strength and get my white blood count back up
enough to cope with the next treatment. I don’t know how much this chemo will wear
me down. I'll have to see how tired I am tomorrow on day 2, and sort of figure that it
may be 3 times worse??? I'm really supposed to avoid exposure to anyone with a cold
or flu so I figure I really need to limit any activity out of the house. My instructions say
I can go out to eat or to a movie or shop but avoid busy times and exposure to anyone
sick. Well it's the start of the holiday shopping season, so that means it's always busy,
and I know from my workplace that people are out and about sick with colds all the
time. So I guess I need to be a hermit.
It's now nearly 6 pm, about 3 hours since I've finished chemo. It took 5 hours for
pumping in the chemicals but all in all it was about 7 hours at the hospital for my
treatment. I'm still doing fine. I was thinking I would probably be sitting with a bucket
in my hand and having all these awful side effects, but so far, nothing!! Maybe God is
protecting me. Earlier this morning when I was lying in bed, I was praying about the
chemo and I felt a nice warm sensation like the comforting hand of God on me. I had
been fairly freaked out about the chemo until then, but I really was fine today knowing
God is with me. Chuck says that with all of God's healings require faith, and I do
believe. I've been reading Matthew the last few days and in one verse it says all you
have to do is ask God and you will be given what you ask for just like a child asks his
father. I just need to have faith....”
The first chemo session went pretty smoothly, my chemo story continues in "Hi Ho, Hi
Ho, its off to chemo I go"