Well, things are well in motion now, and it's way too slow and way too fast.
I had my port installed and that went fairly well. A friend took me for the appointment and we were on our way home before lunch. It was a bit tender and somewhat less than appealing, but I don’t think its purpose was to add to my beauty. I took a few days after this to relax and visit with my brother and get some fresh air, so this was a nice break from the hustle and bustle and all the cancer talk.
Funny thing is, I am SOOOOoooo tired of talking about Cancer, but I do it constantly. It's not that I really want to talk about it, it's that its NEVER not the thing in the forefront of my mind. It's never not what I plan around, think about, dream about, learn about… well you get the picture. But it IS nice to get a break from it every now and then.
My next big goal was to deal with the “hair” issue. So I had to go to 2 appointments on the day and had a 2-hour break in between. I took that time to go to the wig store where my mom and I had already looked at some wigs. The young lady that helped us before was great and pretty understanding and I was hoping she would be there and I get some tips from her. But unfortunately, she was not there. My other choices were the lady that thought the wigs were actually alive, stating things like… ohhh she is a lil wild one and hard to maintain. Really? Hm.. Ok. Not in the mood for that right now. The other option was a lady whom I could under no circumstances understand. So I got my best charades mentality out and went to getting the wig. No discussion, just give me the wig.
Most or at least some of the trauma of this was already over as I had myself a lil minute when we initially looked at wigs, so there would be no more moments of weakness in regards to the hair / wig issue. ….. Yeahhhh right! I planned to have my head shaved after I had the wig in hand so that we could make any needed trims or style adjustments to it.
Ok let's do this
So I went to get my head shaved. I'm gonna be tough, I got this, it's just hair!
I know all these things, but I have to say it was one of the harder experiences in my journey. Not physically, but emotionally it was pretty hard. Kudos to everyone around me for being strong and understanding. I have been getting my hair cut by the same fantastic hairdresser for about 20 years and so of course she would be the one I trusted to handle this with dignity. And she did. Me… aeh.. not so much. But when it was done it was done and we have other things to kick now.
My first chemo was on March 28th and it was a long day. I didn’t get much sleep the night before, whether from nerves or just not turning off the t.v. Part of me thought it best that I did not sleep so that I could sleep through the infusion. We arrived at about 6:30 and went in. As usual, they promptly got me back to do a blood draw from my shiny new port.
They MISSED!!!
Not once but TWICE!
So the very nice young lady inserted the needle directly into the 6-day-old incision. I have to be honest; I screamed a little here. To test it they draw blood back out. No go. Hmm lets do that again. Now she can clearly see this is causing me a substantial amount of discomfort and apologizing profusely. Do what you need its all good. Attempt two… ugggh. No go. So she goes and she gets a senior nurse, who didn’t fluff or prep, just bam! And we have a winner. She said that it was hard because the incision was newer and it was still swollen so it was hard to locate the right spot and get deep enough in. Ok…. We made it over that hurdle.
About a half-hour later my phone dings and the blood results are in. I was concerned with my red blood count as I am slightly anemic. Blood came back in the anemic range, but in the acceptable range to move forward with the chemo.
Shortly, they came and got me and took me back to the chair. The nurse explained all the medications that I would be getting, how long each portion would take, and what each one was for. They gave me the lil tour of the facility to show me where the restrooms and kitchenette were. Once this was all complete, she ordered the meds from the pharmacy. They can’t do this ahead of time and it takes about 15 – 20 minutes to get them. In the meantime, I leaned my chair back and started to try and relax. I was given warm blankets and a pillow and offered something to drink or a snack. I have to say that for a pretty undesirable procedure they do their very best to make you as comfortable as possible throughout. In addition, the nurses always check to see if you need fresh blankets, food, or drink and they have volunteers running around for this purpose as well. Once my meds arrived she start infusing them. The first med was an industrial-strength dose of Benadryl which instantly nauseated me. Thank goodness the next was an IV of Zofran. Come on Zofran! I was able to doze off and on but never really sleep hard. We finished up and went on our way home between 3:30 and 3:45.
That night I didn’t really feel all that bad. Very tired and sore and a little nauseated. But not terrible. So I thought it might be a good idea to eat, so I had some leftovers and went to bed.
Somewhere in the night (ear bug) I was shocked awake, quite literally. I woke up and felt like I was being electrocuted. This sensation only lasted for a few seconds and I went back to sleep. The next day I was a little more nauseated and very sore. I had body aches, leg cramps, and pain in all my extremities, but I was still able to eat a “little”. The following day (day 3) was the worst. I believe I felt worse that day than I ever have from a flu, cold or anything similar. I couldn’t even look at food and the soreness somehow got worse. But as you may have guessed I made it through. Moving forward symptoms went up and down and were removed and added. Intense heartburn, dizziness, lightheaded, replaced to some degree nausea. I feel much better now and next time I will do better at getting in front of my symptoms with medication. In addition, I will discuss my experience with my Dr and they can often adjust the medication to make it easier. My next round is May 19th.
I am currently on day 12. I'm still a “little” fatigued, but more importantly, today is the day my hair started to fall out. I knew this would happen and it's typically around day 14 so we are close to schedule. What I didn’t know is if I would lose all the hair on my body (eyebrows, lashes…….) or just my head. From what I am seeing so far I'm going to lose it all. Not a big deal, but I am very glad that I chose to shave it as opposed to it falling out like it is everywhere else on my body.
Ok just for a little fun. The top ten reasons you don’t need hair. To be read from 10 to 1 with a drum roll before number 1
1. Finding out you have a “perfectly” shaped head
2. OMG the time I can save in the shower.
3. Look at all this extra counter space! No hair dryer, hair spray, hairbrushes
4. Think of all the money I will save on products
5. You don’t have to go to get my hair cut
6. I don’t have to pull my hair out at work.
7. You don’t have to worry about getting hair in your food
8. You don’t have to worry about getting your hair caught in anything
9. People open the door for you
10. You can freak out your dogs and threaten to give them the same hairdo
Comments