Thursday, October 21, 2010

Chemical Party

So today was the big day: Chemo treatment #1.  In general it wasn't that bad.  I was there for 4 hours, but the first hour or so was just an IV drop with anti-nausea medications -- in the future I'll be taking those in a pill form in advance, so that should short my treatments some.  I felt fine the entire time I was there, except for a small sinus headache that they alleviated by slowing the drip on my IV.  Once I was done the headache came back and I haven't quite been able to shake it, but it hasn't been too bad.  I've also felt just a twinge of queasiness but really not that bad.

I'm getting chemo at my oncologists office, and its in a room that has 4 chairs in it so I get to make new friends while I am there.  I did meet one woman today who also has breast cancer and she is on the younger side.  She was also receiving her first treatment today so it was good to have someone to talk to who could relate.

Since I've been home, I've just been relaxing and letting my day nurse and evening nurse take care of me (read: my parents and Ben).  I thought that the Caps might be able to pull out a win for me tonight, but apparently they didn't get the memo...

Now for a recap on the rest of this week:

Tuesday - I went to have a MUGA heart scan (its a pretty simple procedure:  they inject you with radioactive dye, then you sit on a chair for about 20 minutes and a small plate takes pictures of your heart).  This would have been fairly uneventful if it hadn't been for the company I had.  While I was getting the scan behind a curtain (and supposed to be perfectly still) they brought in the next patient to start an IV on (while I had done 30 minutes or so earlier).  And guess who it was?  Waffles and yogurt woman from my chemo class -- I instantly knew when I heard her voice, though I never actually got to see her.  I listened to her antics as she IV and had to try extra hard not to laugh while on the machine.

Wednesday - I started off the day at Alexandria hospital so that I could get my mediport placed in my chest.  This is there so that I can get my chemo drugs and blood work through it instead of a standard IV.  When I went into the operating room, they had a wonderful hot air pad and warming blanket that felt so wonderful when I woke up from my twilight sleep (slept through the whole thing and don't remember a thing).  Coming out of the twilight sleep was so pleasant -- mostly because the bed was so cozy.   Once I woke up and had a quick 15 minute recovery, I had to rush down to Stafford for a dentist appointment that I was already late for.  Luckily they were still able to work me in and I was all set to go for my first chemo treatment today.

Last night the port surgery took it s toll and I had a hard time sleeping because my muscles were sore and the bandages were pulling my skin, but I'm hoping tonight goes better since I had some of the bandages taken off.  Interestingly enough, last night was the first time I had trouble sleeping since being diagnosed -- probably because I've just been exhausted at the end of everyday.

Sorry this post is mostly the boring detail stuff but I'm out of funny and witty insights at the moment.  I'm off to bed soon, but I'll check in again soon.

Thank you to everyone for all of the positive thoughts today!

2 comments:

  1. Erin- I'm glad the first treatment went well!

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  2. Glad the first treatment went well, Erin. I love you and am constantly thinking of you and praying for you!

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