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.