We are in deep now- We have even had our chemo teaching class! It was yesterday with the nurse navigator at the hospital. I love her- she is funny and she is a BC survivor. She has lymphedema in her left arm (wow- that arm is HUGE in comparison to her right!) so she is just a huge wealth of information. The class took about an hour and went over things like lymphedema but mostly about chemo and when my hair will fall out, making sure I track all my side effects and medications, and she talked to Jim a lot about what to make sure I am eating and what to force me to eat when I refuse everything else. She also went over the symptoms- when they will hit, when my white blood count will be the lowest, and when I will feel the best. I think Jim and I feel better about chemo now. Yea- that chemo room sucks but it will only be for 1 day every 3 weeks that I will be stuck in there and hopefully I will be busy reading, writing, or sleeping, and I might even make a few friends there. I can do it :)
When I complained to her about my nerve issues under my armpit area (yes, I complain about this to every doctor and nurse that will listen) she did think it was possible to be truncal lymphedema and to make sure my plastic surgeon gets me a referral to the lymphedema specialist- I see my plastic surgeon tomorrow for an earlobe repair so I will ask then!
Your nurses are your go-to people for a lot of things when you're on chemo. Use them. That's what they're there for. And that's WHY they're there. It sounds like you've got a good set-up there.
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