It's been a few weeks since my last update, so how am I doing?
First up, I've now had my first chemo infusion, which happened on Friday, 18 July -- the first couple days were a breeze, especially since I had steroids helping me feel good. After that, things started to decline. Sunday started the fatigue and then Monday and Tuesday were about rock bottom. By Wednesday, it felt like I was starting to bounce back, but I was still a bit fatigued. Thursday, I felt more like myself.
This week, I feel fine, I'm just in what they call the nadir period. That means my white blood cell count is low and I'm prone to getting sick. Luckily, I've only had to go to my physical work location a couple of times as they were cool enough to let me work from home. I'm playing it safe and thankfully all of my family members seem to be healthy.
The chemo process itself is pretty wild. You go in and they verify your identity with every chemical that enters your body. Something else I didn't know, they mix your flavor of poison (that would be carboplatin and pemetrexed for me) up fresh right there in the pharmacy. Because of that, there's some waiting around to be done.
I had a couple cool nurses though. Both were named Charly. Well, one was named Charlee (Charl E squared) and Charly. Of course, when I left a review for them, I called them my Charly's Angels. OF COURSE I DID. Charl E squared spent a lot of time just listening to me ramble about my story, which I appreciated. She was busy, but she took time to hang with me. She was actually shocked that I didn't have any other signs like shortness of breath before I had back pain. (I felt validated in the weirdness of the whole situation.)
Speaking of back pain, the worst part was an increase in shoulder pain that first week after chemo. I asked the doctor about it, and it may just be that the pain will get worse before it gets better as cells die off and sluff into the fluid around my lungs. It's a theory we're running with.
For that first week, there was also a weird taste in my mouth (very metallic or gluey) that kind of messed with the taste of food. Some sweet stuff tasted bitter, and my favorite taco time soft flour tacos tasted bland and gluey. I really couldn't stomach the hot sauce either.
Besides that, I don't know, that first week was just like living through a little dismal, down-swing period. I remember thinking that I felt a bit like a zombie from the walking dead, just kind of disassociating between reality and craving human flesh, ok no craving human flesh . . . yet. My eyesight also seemed to be a little off, which was an odd side effect I wasn't expecting?
This second week, though, everything seems back to normal -- like I said earlier, I just need to play it safe.
From what I understand, the first infusion isn't horrible, but perhaps they get worse as you go on? I guess I'll have to wait and see? They happen every three weeks, so another one is quickly approaching.
Oh yeah . . . also (sigh), unfortunately biopsy two didn't yield any results. They found cancer sure enough, but they didn't get enough of it to get any genetic markers. Because of that they'll be knocking me out YET AGAIN. This time on . . . you guessed it . . . my birthday! It's a happy birthday third biopsy on August 4th y'all! This time they'll be going in through the back to try and get a better shot at one of the masses.
On the positive side, I appreciate that they're being very cautious about not puncturing my lungs, and I really hope that the birthday present I get from the Huntsman Institute is a genetic marker with a good immunotherapy -- all gift wrapped with some Keytruda and ready to go.
Thank you so much to those who have reached out in one way or another. I love you guys! I really appreciate the show of support and the very kind words and gifts. It's humbling to know so many have been doing what they can in the best ways they know how. Truly. Thank you.
1 comment:
Glad to hear you're getting through it all as best as you can so far. My chemo was reportedly one of the easier types - certainly no hair loss or any of that visible stuff. If you take out the unexpected side-effect of a huge blood clot that almost killed me, a very rare side-effect apparently, the whole process (Three months) wasn't that bad.
It did get worse as it went on, to an extent. The first cycle was virtually unnoticeable to the point I felt a bit embarassed to be off work but it gradually took more effect until I didn't feel much like doing anything other than sitting around the house or going for very short walks. I had similar changes in my sense of taste to you, which meant I had the worst diet during chemo since my student days - I ate a lot of donuts and sweet things because I could taste sugar just fine but quite a few other things tasted metallic or bitter.
I had a lot of the tingling/loss of sensation in the extremities, to the point where my feet were numb and my fingers weren't very tactile. After it was over I was told that might not go away and it hasn't, entirely, especially in my feet. It's not unpleasant, though, and now I've had it so long I don't even think about it.
All in all, it was easier than I expected. I hope yours goes as well as mine did!
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