I just luv chemo

Felt like I didn't get any real rest between treatments. I was out of commission all last weekend and Monday. 

Tons of stress at work too  (I know supposed to ignore work stress and focus on health). 

Went to work today set for the beach almost. Hawaiian shirt and sandles with cargos. All the guys at work said I'm already in vacation mode.

Chemo went ok they did have to make 3 attempts to find a vain.

Chili'a after with my Dad & son was awesome.

Back to Chemo

Back at it after my two weeks off. Good news from Oncologist, my markers are down to near normal levels 87. 

A little Set Back

Chemotherapy Chaos

Had an extra week off since I switched my Chemotherapy from Monday back to Friday. I was feeling really good with that extra time without those horrible drugs in my system. The weekend before I had made the decision to stop fighting the hair loss situation and shaved my head completely. I think I look better completely bald than the spotty thin hair that I had. You be the judge, but I think I pull it off.
Spent Thursday night February 6th with Julia her car was in the shop so she was going to drop me off for Chemo and use my car till we could pick her car up. Friday morning Julia dropped me off and I went up to the 3rd floor Chemotherapy room as usual while she took my car to work.
Everything started normally, my parents met me in the waiting room while I checked in. I was a little early and there was one other patient in that had the same appointment time, but the room was packed. As usual that means that there is going to be a wait till they can get me back into the infusion room, kind of stressful which doesn't help the fact that they always question me because my blood pressure is high, (Hello get me pain meds that work!). I took an Ativan to help me calm down and get my blood pressure under control at least a little bit.
I finally got back into the room after 11:00 and started my injections. They began as usual with the magnesium, no problems at all with that. Gemzar went next and they were able to get that at a faster pace than the normal 45 minutes (that would help to make up for the hour and a half wait to get started!)
The nurse then hooked up the Cisplatin. The nurse verified the drug and hooked it up to the IV, a second nurse verified the prescription and signed off on the computer and both walked away. Within a few minutes of the nurse walking away I started to feel a slight tingling and burning in my face. I flagged down one of the nurses working on another patient. She took one look at me and dropped what she was doing and called the other nurses over to me. :-(
The nurses immediately called the doctor on duty to come over and look at me. By that time not only was my face on fire but the right side of my body as well as my throat. It was weird that the right side was feeling it since the IV was in my left arm, but who knows how the body sends the drugs around. I noticed my fingers were swelling, and kind of subconsciously noticed that it was harder for me to see. The doctor ordered the Cisplatin to be disconnected and ordered a dose of Benadryl to be added to my IV. She also told them to add another anti-histamine to be injected.
By this time I'm having trouble breathing because the inside of my mouth is swelling and my throat is tightening. I know I'm obviously having an allergic reaction, but it's weird that this was the 10th time I had received the drug that I was having this reaction to it. The nurses started monitoring my blood Oxygen levels and immediately hooked me up to the Oxygen tank. I'm freaking out now and the nurses are asking about getting the intubation kit ready and if they might need it. I'm feeling extremely scared now, it's hard for me to breathe because my throat is still swollen and I'm having trouble seeing because my eyes are swelling up. I tried to take a selfie to but my swollen fingers couldn't press the button on my phone, I did see the picture though and my face looked like Rocky's as swollen as it was.
After about 5 minutes the doctor ordered another anti-histamine and another round of Benadryl. A minute into that the pressure on my throat started to lessen and I felt the swelling of my eyelids slacken a bit. The burning was decreasing and all around I was beginning to feel better. Dr. Dhuong came by and replaced the other doctor and told me the obvious that I had an allergic reaction to the Cisplatin. He was going to take that drug off of my regimen and just continue with the Gemzar going forward and monitor the tumor markers in my blood work to make sure things are staying stable before making a decision to re-add a second drug or change the strategy all together. The swelling in my face was still bad so he added one more Benadryl order and left me in the capable hands of the nursing staff.
15 minutes later I was 100% back to normal other that the fact that all the Benadryl had me sleepy as hell, it was a good thing that I wasn't driving with all those drugs in my system. Because I wasn't doing the Cisplatin, they didn't need to give me the additional bag for hydration I was free to go. The nurse took out my IV and my parents helped me out to there car. My parents dropped me off at my apartment and for the most part I slept the rest of the day. Glad that I thought to alert the nurse when I did, I don't want to think about what would have happened if I had let more of the Cisplatin get into my system.

 

 

Thanksgiving

A little late with this post, been out of sorts for a while.

Had a blast Thanksgiving, Julia and I drove up to the mountain house to spend the holiday with family. We drove up Wednesday night, my brother and his wife were doing the same. Girls and Alex stayed up with us and talked and lightweight partied till about 1:30 AM or so. Brianna bailed earlier to go into the computer room to play WOW, but we all had a great time.

 

Thanksgiving day my Elisa's parents came up. Her dad was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer almost exactly a year prior. I was glad he came because he and I are going through very much the same things in our lives now.

 

We talked for at least an hour on the supplements and alternative medications he is taking to help with his cancer. The cannabis treatments are really a god-send to helping him with his situation. He had contracted Pancreatitis shortly after his diagnosis so was unable to get started on Chemotherapy until they had gotten that under control. The cannabis helps immensely with keeping the immune system fully functional and keeping the Pancreatitis from re-emerging. Just the fact that he is still here over a year after being diagnosed gave me vast amounts of hope.

 

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 ................