Packing my bag for chemo day was so much work! I swear I packed for an entire weekend. Food for all day- including lunch, granola bars, and other snacks, and a few drinks (I need to bring more next time) a jacket, my tablet, my cel phone, chargers for both, socks, a few notebooks and a puzzle book. I packed it all up on Tuesday night. Wednesday morning I ended up waking up around 6- planning to leave around 7, to be there at 7:30. Jim told me this was a bad idea a few days ago, because of rush our traffic. I didn't listen too him- my bad! We got there about 10 minutes late but I don't think anyone really noticed- phew! I had to go to a chemo class- that is basically an informed consent class- you read about all the drugs that you have to take- taking note that they all basically say they can cause death, but hopefully instead it doesn't. LOL! Of course it lists all the other bad side effects also. After that, I got to go pick out a chair in the chemo room. They had the shades all opened up so that we could see a really nice green courtyard outside. Thank goodness for good scenery. We chose a seat near a tv. My mom came with me for the entire day (I know I was bored- I can't even imagine how bored she was!) I am glad we got there early because all the seats filled up so fast that they ended up having a waiting list for chairs- that really sucked for my mom as she had to spend most of her time standing. In the amount of time I was there, most other chairs all changed over at least one time- sometimes twice. First they gave me steriods, benadryl, some anti puking meds, and a bag of fluids. The benadryl made me kinda drowsy but I just powered through...After all those bags emptied they were finally able to start my chemo meds- I think it was around 9am when that started. The first 2 meds had no effect on me. The third one was the nasty one that causes hair to fall out. I had to ice my hands for the entire hour that I had that drug pumping through me. BURRRRR! Of course, by that time I already had a jacket on and a blanket so at least the rest of me stayed warm. Then towards the end of that hour, I started feeling kind of lightheaded and flushed. That feeling stayed with me the rest of the time I was there. The 4th drug didn't seem to do anything different and after they finished that bag I was free to go- it was about 3:30 when we finally walked out of there- Phew- what a long day! I didn't use most of the stuff in my bag- I alternated between playing on my phone and playing on the tablet.
Here I am while all bundled up and icing my hands!
Overall- it wasn't bad at all- it just took a long time! Once I got home I felt kind of 'off' and food didn't sound very good. I didn't really feel queasy but just not normal. I took a zofran just in case. I ate dinner after that and really felt pretty normal. Yeah- Day one of chemo: complete! 5 more to go!
Pretty soon it will all be routine. :-) I'm glad your mom was able to be there with you!!
ReplyDeleteDon't be surprised if you feel icky either tomorrow or the next day, though it shouldn't be too bad yet. Take it one day at a time and you'll do fine.
Hang in there!!!!