Post chemo day1 (or day 2 if you are an oncologist)

Felt a little tired last night when we got home from the infusion suite then went to bed and was wide awake! This I found out was a side effect of the steroid they are giving me. I was so comfortable in my bed though that I didn't want to leave it. I finally decided not to bother my husband any more so I went down into my recliner and just sat there reading facebook and my email. I am having a few side effects from chemo - my feet felt like they were on fire last night and they are worried that is an early sign of neuropathy so they are going to potentially change my dose. I was a little pink/rosy from the steroid they are giving me too. I am also already not a fan of any food or drink that is hot or super sweet - it doesn't taste very good to me. I have a feeling like I am slightly car sick but I was in a car being driven around all afternoon so I may have been slightly car sick. I popped a ginger mint and felt better immediately. But I feel good. I don't feel like me, but a slightly altered version of me. I am taking my anti-nausea drugs. I am keeping my skin clean and moist to prevent skin peeling. I am using my biotene toothpaste and rinsing with ACT dry mouth to prevent mouth sores. I am really hoping I can just cruise through this. My surgeon saw me quickly and unexpectedly today while I was going to get my neulasta shot just to check in on my healing and he was really excited that I am still healing well. I am definitely feeling like I am a pin cushion now - soon enough a tattoo will follow so I might as well get used to being poked by needles. I have learned to request a specific nurse every time I am getting my port accessed or my neulasta shot - she is just better at it than the other nurses. So, I feel like things are going smoothly right now! I hope it keeps up!

1 down 52 weeks left to go

Round 1 of 6 treatments of Carboplatin and Taxotere complete. Round 1 of 52 treatments of Herceptin complete! It was a long day but it was also an easy day. I had packed up my "chemo bag" yesterday - blanket, all medications for nausea and asthma, lotion, lots of hard candy, lip balm, sanitizing wipes, book, garden planning stuff, and things to make Shauna's training plan. I was over prepared for the day (how unusual) and was convinced I would be made fun of for bringing so much. My oncologist said that young people read everything and are always more prepared than others - this is how I felt today. The day started when I realized I didn't put my lidocane cream on my port to numb it up so I tried to open the horribly designed tube in the car and I pushed too hard on the bottom and the top shot off and flew across the car. Joe got it all over his leg. It got all over the shifting column. A few minutes later, Joe said, "Well, it works because my shin is numb." The problem was my port was not. We got to the infusion room, found my seat even though I refused to sit at this moment, told our story, and I was given better instructions on how to put it on so I will go numb and then given a big ice pack to numb the port. The insertion of the needle into the port was much better this time! I am so happy to have skilled nurses available to me. In order to prevent skin peeling on my hands, we iced my hands while getting the taxotere for an hour. Joe went and got me lunch and a newspaper during carboplatin. Other than the horrible metallic taste associated with the saline rinse, I started to get a slightly nasty taste at the end of the carboplatin treatment and during herceptin. I had tons of candy with me (options just in case I wanted something specific). I ended up only wanting the organic lemon honey or apple hard candy which aren't as sweet as the others. I drank about 64 oz of water while I was there - I drink water when I get bored and I had access to it over the 5 hrs I was there. I also am convinced that if I drink enough water, my kidneys will function really well through this process and I will rinse the bad drugs out of my system at an appropriate rate so that they aren't just sitting there in my system. I feel extremely hydrated now! I only sat for short periods of time though through the day. I hate to sit. I even got to do laps around the infusion suite - I need a pedometer to figure out how long a loop is so I can walk a mile while I'm there. I was given strict rules that I couldn't leave the suite though! The nurses thought it was funny that I would just stand in my little area and do things - I just couldn't sit there for 5 hrs. Things went really well though. My only side effect right now if a little joint pain, a little tired, and I am a little more pale than normal. I have decided that I will be perfectly fine during all of this with small amts of tolerable side effects to no side effects from chemotherapy. I refuse to have those side effects. I ended my journey through the first chemo session asking if I could bring my bike in for a treatment on the bike and they humored me saying that would be fun! They don't know me well enough to even give me false hope!!! Jay, I may ask to borrow the quieter trainer sometime soon!

Stitches are out!

Most of my stitches came out today!! Only three in the front are still there. I knew I was healing really well all of a sudden because a couple of the stitches were becoming embedded in my skin and I was watching my skin grow around them daily. It was the scariest thing because I knew they needed to come out and knew it would probably be painful to get those out. It wasn't as painful as I thought though. I did ask why I was suddenly healing appropriately and my doctor had said the body does strange things sometimes. This means tomorrow is the big day. Chemo starts with carboplatin, taxotere, and herceptin. We will soon see how chemo is going to effect me. The interesting thing is that I know everyone thinks it will effect me immediately but after talking with the nurses and my oncologist, most of the side effects will be two to three days later when some of the medications they give me wears off. This week will be an interesting one though. I have chemo tomorrow. I have to get a neulasta injection on Wednesday to make sure my white blood cells stay high during the next three weeks. I have to stop by and get the bib numbers for the corporate challenge too. Then we have the corporate challenge on Thursday - which I am planning on walking if I feel up to it. I like that I have things planned but can opt out if necessary from some of them. It makes it easier to feel normal during this process. On a side note, I asked for a tentative run start date and I was told 2 weeks!!! I can't wait. People don't realize that I remember how it feels to start running, I did that in 2001 and it sucked. I never wanted to ever get back to that point. Now I will be excited to do 1/4 mile and oh boy will it be slow! It will be awesome any way you look at it!