My First Chemotherapy session

My first Chemotherapy session was scheduled on a Friday. Exactly one week after my preliminary biopsy results came back, 4 Days after my first Oncologist appointment, and less than 24 hours after my Chemotherapy class.

Julia stayed over the Thursday night before and we left the apartment around 8:30 and got to the hospital just after 9:00. My dad was there when we got there and we went up to the 3rd Floor to the Oncology department. Got in line and registered, they were called me in pretty quickly, a good thing because I was freaking out. They walked all three of us to the overflow Chemotherapy room. One of the things they had mentioned in the Chemo class was only one visitor per patient, but that didn't phase Julia and my dad.

 

First thing they did is stick the needle in my hand to start the IV. They took my blood pressure and wow shocker super high. Going through a little bit of stress would cause the high BP so they took another 20 minutes re-testing until they decided to give me something for the anxiety. 1MG of Lorazepam did the trick, BP went down and I was feeling really good. They fired up the IV and started pumping Magnesium into my system. Forty Five minutes later they started with the first Chemo drug. Felt like my whole arm was burning cold. I know that sounds weird but that is what it felt like. Endured that with some help from the nurses wrapping my arm in warm blankets and using some heating pads got through the 50 minutes of that drug. They started the second drug and at that point it was getting a bit crowded in the Chemo room, so the nurse enforced the 1 visitor per patient, and my dad left, and let Julia sit in with me. about half an hour later Julia left to go get my dad, just as I experienced one of this drugs wonderful side effects frequent needing to urinate(it may just have been the fact that they had sent 4 IV bags through my arm at this time.)

 

I got back from walking my beat up body to the bathroom, and my dad was there waiting. He and I hung out for about a half hour and he left to send Julia back in. As she got back the Lorazepam was really starting to work, and the last drug was finishing off. I was high as a kite on the anti-anxiety drug, evident in the shot below.

 



All in all my first Chemo session wasn't too terrible..

ChemoTherapy Class

Thursday morning after my Oncology appointment I was scheduled to go to a Chemotherapy class. I wasn't entirely sure what to think about it, so was a little bit worried and excited about it at the same time. I've know very few people who have been through Chemo and all of them had lost their hair(Not such a loss for me but still would be an adjustment from thin to bald.) The class was scheduled for 10:00 in the basement of the hospital across from the cafeteria.

I was too nervous to hang out in the apartment until time to go to class so I actually went into work for a while, mostly to chit-chat with my friends over our normal coffee/status meeting. The tree major teams in our office normally get together in the mornings to go over what happened the day before, what work needs to be done today, and of course good natured ribbing and joking around. Wednesday night I couldn't sleep so I baked a cake(I know weird but kept my mind occupied), so I brought that in to share with everyone. Cheap Pillsbury box cake, but everyone enjoyed it. Left the office about 9:15 (Officially was in the office for an hour fulfilling the requirement for a workday, so I didn't have to use a sick or vacation day) Got to the hospital and waited for the classroom to open. There was a hospital staff group meeting going on in the room that was going over there scheduled time. In the mean time I wandered the halls around the area keeping close by the classroom. Finally the Chemotherapy nurse who had talked to Julia and I on Monday poked her head into the room and kicked them out shouting "There are a bunch of Chemotherapy patients that need this room!"

There were 3 people waiting plus the nurse and the patient advocate (Social Worker). We took our seats and waited for the next 2 people that were scheduled for the class. We each received a folder that contained lots of paperwork. First up to talk was the social worker. He went over all of the resources the hospital offered as well as the resources from American Cancer Society, and several other organizations. One of the more unique items he talked about was the stress level chart(for me that was trough the roof at this point.) Chart made some sense and looked it over and thought I might actually use it. His next talk was about the advanced healthcare directive. The folder we were given contained a pamphlet with a blank legal document in it that would allow us to direct the hospital as to who would be able to tell them what measures we would like them to take in the event we were unable to communicate with hospital staff. (Very scared that this topic was introduced here.)

Next speaker was the main Chemotherapy nurse for the hospital. At first she went over the general expectations for what Chemo would do to the body  and what it was designed to accomplish. The one unique item I gleaned from the first part of her discussion was that we should avoid supplementing anti-oxidants.  I always though those were good for you, but apparently they attack the Chemo and don't allow it to do it's job. Her words "anti-oxidants are supposed to fight cancer, and look how well they have done for you so far."

The next part of her speech was to go over the individual drugs that each of us would be given as part of the Chemotherapy. As part of our folder we were given the details of which drugs were to part of our individual Chemotherapy treatments. Mine were Cisplatin & Gemcitabine (Gemzar). She went over Gemzar first. She went over the side affects

• Low white blood cell count with increased risk of infection*
• Low platelet count with increased risk of bleeding*
• Low red blood cell count (anemia) with symptoms like tiredness, weakness, or shortness of breath*
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Loss of appetite
• Tiredness (fatigue)*
• Fever
• Swelling of the arms and legs or other parts of the body
• Skin rash
• Abnormal blood or urine tests which suggest that the drug is affecting the liver or kidneys (your doctor will discuss the importance of these findings, if any.)

Next the Cisplatin

 

• kidney damage*
• decreased blood levels of magnesium, potassium, and calcium
• nausea*
• vomiting*
• low white blood cell count with increased risk of infection*
• low platelet count with increased risk of bleeding*
• low red blood cell count (anemia), which can make you tired, dizzy, or easily out of breath*
• taste changes, including metallic taste of foods and rarely loss of taste
• sensation of pins and needles or numbness in hands and/or feet caused by irritation of nerves, which usually goes away when treatment is stopped*
• swelling in hands, feet, or legs*
• fetal changes if pregnant during treatment  

 Her next talk was about the procedures for the Chemo which was to be the next day Friday for me. After this she let us go. My mind was spinning thinking of what was to hit me the next day for my first Chemo session.
 

My First Oncology Appointment

The Friday I got the news that I had Cancer, my doctor made an appointment with the Oncology department for the following Monday.

I really wasn't sure what to expect but I wanted to go as fast as I could to get this new phase of my life underway and under control. Julia offered to drive me to my appointment, and my dad was going to drive down to meet me there too. Appointment was at 3:30, but Julia and I got there more than 20 minutes early. There was really no wait, and they let us back to the exam room right away, well before my dad had gotten there. Mentioned to the nurse that my dad would be on his way soon and he was allowed back when he got there. She took my vitals and said she would let the receptionist know that I was expecting someone else. Doctor came in shortly after still no dad, just Julia and I, and he basically said again what my primary doctor had told me the Friday before. That I had Cancer and that the tumor was too large to remove surgically. I told him I hadn't seen any of the imaging and that was one of the things I personally wanted to see since they halted the Gall Bladder surgery because of the protrusion from my liver. He obliged and started showing me the CT Scan results as my dad was let into the room.

I was completely floored, was able to keep my head but almost completely destroyed when the doctor showed me the images. I had been expecting just to see a huge tumor on my liver, but was mortified to see that there were spots in my lungs, lymph nodes, pancreas, as well as along the bile ducts inside the liver. I saw the look on my dad's face as the doctor was going over the images, and felt truly that he was taking it much harder than I was. I understand completely, I would much rather go through something like this myself as to watch it happen to my own son. The Oncologist explained that because of the multiple system involvement I would be on Chemo for the rest of my life, there was just no way to get rid of all of the cancer either surgically or through radiation with the Cancer spread out like it is. Julia was my rock and gave me the strength to comfort my father once the doctor had left the room to send for the Chemotherapy nurse.

The Chemotherapy nurse came in and she was a bundle of unstoppable energy. She went over some of the basics that I would be experiencing, and scheduled me for a required Chemotherapy class for that Thursday, and also coordinated with getting me scheduled for my first Chemo session that Friday as well. She also produced several forms my parents and Julia could talk to the doctors about me, or more to the point the doctors could officially talk to them about my situation. I got all that filled out and turned in and then just waited to get the confirmation of the class and the Chemo times which she came back with right away.

More to come ................

How I was introduced to my Cancer :-(

Three weeks ago my oldest daughter Brianna was marching in the band for her High School football team(Go Big Blue!!)  Made the hour and a half drive to her school to watch the game. As I'm watching the game, and my daughter playing in the band; I started feeling like I had really bad indigestion. Indigestion got worse as the night went on, but no big deal. After the game took my daughters back to my parents house and visited for a bit before going to bed or at least couch for me when I stay at there place. Next day seemed fine went on with the day knowing I had to meet my girlfriend Saturday night, so hugged my girls goodbye got a reluctant grunt from my son and left and made the hour and a half drive back to Sacramento where I live.

That whole week I was feeling crappy couldn't place my finger on what was wrong, but I ended up treating everyone horribly, especially my girlfriend. I pushed her away not wanting to be around anyone.

October 20th is my mom's birthday so the girls and I had planned to surprise my mom by me coming up to there house the Saturday after while she and my dad went to San Jose for a Sharks game. Drove the hour and a half again up the hill and stopped in Jackson to cake mix to bake my mom's birthday cake. Felt the indigestion and a bit more pain associated it with the changing weather and maybe my back. Got up to my parents house, my youngest daughter Taylor and I made the cake, and waited for Grandma & Grandpa to get home. We had a great time I didn't eat much because I still had that indigestion. My mom suggested using this foam roller to help straighten out my back thinking that my be why I was in the pain I was in. I dealt with it, though I did borrow a couple 800mg Motrin's from my dad.

Next Monday at work I felt all of it indigestion, "back pain", and just general awfulness, I called my doctor and she said to come in so I went in to the hospital as she suggested. Got checked in and the ER doctor sends me for an ultrasound. Ultrasound looks like I have Gall Stones so the ER doctor calls the surgeon to have my Gall Bladder removed. I'm told no big deal it's a simple procedure they can do it without opening me up really bad, and I'll be ready to leave the hospital sans Gall Bladder in a day and a half. The best part here is they gave me some really good drugs. First time since my knee surgery at 21 that I got Morphine. :-)

There were scheduling issues with getting me into surgery, so all Tuesday I waited. I wasn't allowed to have anything but meds by mouth so I was just a bit hungry seeing as all I had was a small salad at noon on Monday. My girlfriend showed up with the cutest stuffed animal for me, showed me how much of an ass I was the week before with her that she was there for me at the drop of a hat like that. She sat by my bed  waiting for the surgery center to open. She had a late client appointment so had to leave around 3:00 or so but my dad was coming down to take my son Alex to his one college class. I told her I would call her and let her know when they were taking me in.

When they came to get me for surgery I let everyone know that I was going in and not to worry I'll see them when I was out. Before they took me I had to give up my last bit of dignity, I had kept my underwear on since being admitted even though they told me to take everything off and just put on the horrible hospital robe. The orderly wheels me up to surgery, which takes me outside across the parking lot to the main hospital, but it's nice and cool outside the perfect fall evening I thought as we head into the main hospital from my room. When we get up into the OR nurse asks me tons of routine questions and they get me on the table. Anesthesiologist doesn't even warn me and knocks me out. I wake up with my girlfriend an my dad over my bed and a tube down my throat. Julia is telling me that they aborted the surgery, because the surgeon took one look at my abdomen and said that is not a Gall Bladder problem. He said that there was a protrusion coming out from my liver pushing out and that was what was causing everything going on. So now they scheduled me for a CT scan to see what was actually going on(I'm thinking why didn't they do that first instead of the ultrasound.)

My dad has to go back up and pick up Alex and trek the hour and a half back up the hill. Julia stayed with me and went with me when they took me in for the CT scan. Again I can't believe how much of an ass I was to her that last week. The doctors do the CT scan and come back to me in a couple hours saying that they need to do a biopsy on the nodule protruding from my liver. Scared as hell I mean they stopped a surgery granted not a huge one but getting someone into the OR can't be simple. Now they tell me they want a biopsy. Fine do it get it over with. Julia leave about 1:30 or so in the morning a real trooper, I know if she hadn't have been there I would have been going completely nuts.

The next morning they schedule me for the CT Guided biopsy. Do the procedure and the doctor who is doing it says to me with something like this we assume cancer till we can prove it isn't(Scary!!) He also told me to go buy a lottery ticket because a lot of times things like this even out in strange ways(No luck for me in that way anyway). He does the procedure which doesn't hurt too bad, just uncomfortable because I can feel him moving my diaphragm around with the big ass needle he's putting in me. That's done and the hospital says that now I can eat finally, and that I can be released. Good news I assume till they tell me it will take 2 days to get the biopsy results back. Julia comes and picks me up and takes me home. All the drugs are wearing off and I can feel the area where if feels like the doctor stabbed me with a sword.

I'm taking it easy on Thursday staying at the apartment, my car is still at the hospital so I'm not going anywhere. I did walk up the street to the Togo's to get a sandwich, then to the Jamba Juice right next door, but the walk that normally took 10 minutes took me over an hour. Julia came over and stayed the night. Was really nervous about the results coming back the next day.

Next morning Julia had an early client so she drove me over to the hospital to pick up my car and she motored on to her 9:00 appointment. I moseyed around all day taking things slow but got a lot of things done. I drove to work around 3:00 because I knew most of the people wouldn't be there but my bosses would be. I walked in and talked to my boss and first thing he gave me a huge hug, this is the first place I've worked for that I felt truly cared that I worked there. I told him what I knew of what was going on and told him I would let him know what was happening next. I left the office about an hour later.

Just after pulling out of the parking lot I get a call from my doctor. She has the news that I've been afraid of the biopsy came back as Cancer. I nearly crashed the car when she said it, but I managed to keep on top of everything. She told me that they didn't have the exact pathology of the cancer cells and that may take a bit longer to figure out, and asked if I wanted the referral for Oncology immediately or if I wanted to wait for the full pathology results. I opted for seeing the Oncologist as soon as possible, which she scheduled me for the next Monday.

More to come from this exciting journey