Cody Updates by Mom

I have successfully completed my first chemo treatment day.  It was a long day that started at 8:30 and we left the hospital at 2:00 to go to a final appointment with Dr. Mann at 2:15.  Finally home by 3:00.

We started the morning with blood draws.  They have to look at all of my numbers to make sure that I am healthy enough to get chemo.  It was interesting as I was able to go to the HealthPartners site on my phone and see the numbers as I was getting chemo.  The blood draws all looked good so they were able to put the order in for us to get chemo treatments mixed up.  That gave us about a half an hour.  We went and got breakfast to go from the cafeteria.  Nothing better than Cream of Wheat and sausage links to start the day. 🙂

We got back to the room and they started my IV for the treatments.  Unfortunately they were not able to put the IV on the top of my arm to make it more comfortable for me to sit in the chair with my arm.  Not a huge deal but I now understand why they wanted to put it on the top part, it would have been more comfortable.

They had me start a corticosteroid yesterday and I will continue this through tomorrow.  They always start with saline in the IV.  They then increased the amount of corticosteroid by at least double with more pills and also had me take a pill for nausea.  I then got an IV of a different anti-nausea drug.  That was all the preset up stuff to get me ready for chemo.

So there are two different chemo drugs.  They give the drugs separately and each take an hour or so to drip through the IV.  “T” is the one that has the most complications during treatment and also the most side effects.  This is the drug that will cause the loss of hair.  The “C” doesn’t have really many complications during treatment but has a fair amount of the same side effects of the “T”.  Mostly the two combined will drop both my white and red counts really low.  So no infections and no cuts is the message I have been given consistently with the drugs.

They started with “T”.  After about 10 minutes I had to use the restroom and noticed that I was getting flush around my chest and neck area.  Jim saw it too and they let us know that if anything didn’t feel right that we had to tell them.  We let our nurse know and they stopped the “T”.  After talking with the doctors I was given Benadryl by IV.  After about 10-15 minutes being watched by two nurses and Jim like a hawk, my flushing decreased and they were able to start the “T” again.  I was able to complete the “T” again without any additional flushing on my skin.  The unfortunate part was that the combination of adding the Benadryl caused restless leg sensations for the remaining time of the “T”.  This was not pleasant as I was uncomfortable for a good amount of time but couldn’t really get around with the IV very much.

Once done with this they started me on the “C”.  Luckily we were able to get through the “C” without complications.  While getting the “C” we had a lunch sandwiches we brought from home and I was happy to be able to eat without nausea.  All the prep seemed to work. 🙂  Unfortunately, my stomach wasn’t perfect and had some diarrhea  after all of the treatments were done.  It hasn’t returned so that is good!

We then went to Dr. Mann’s office.  On Sunday we had noticed a spot under my left armpit that we were concerned about having some fluid in that area.  It was not fluid but a start of Lymph-edema.  So, this means that we have more to do to deal with this area on the left.  Dr. Mann removed the remainder of the tape over my incisions so I am now completely tape free. (Well, except for the stubborn sticky crap that will take 12 months to be gone).  After we got home we talked with our Occupational Therapist for Lymph-edema that we met last week.  She gave us some instructions for helping the area decrease and we set up an appointment to see her on Wednesday morning.  With this issue you want to deal with it immediately so it doesn’t end up being a permanent issue.

So now we are home.  I have taken a well needed nap, had dinner with Jim and watching the Wild game while writing.

How do I feel?  Well, it is hard to put into words.  When I had the surgery the fatigue that I felt was very specific and felt like a healing fatigue.  I could tell that my body was healing itself and I needed to just rest.  This feeling of fatigue is different.  I know that the chemo is killing cells in my body and it is weird but I can feel that.  This feeling of fatigue is a feeling of my body giving over to the chemo.  It doesn’t feel like a healing rest that I am taking.  The rests are necessary as my body is getting weaker.  I can feel it working through my system as it kills any possibility of cancer still hanging out in cells that haven’t switched yet.  There is a tingling in areas and it seems that it may be that the chemo is now getting to those areas.  Not sure but it’s an odd feeling.  Really hard to put into words.

From what I understand, tomorrow will be the day when I feel the worse.  The big deal is to maintain eating even when I don’t want to and watch for side effects.  They are concerned about numbness in my fingers and toes, my nails pulling off my fingers and toes, mouth sores and any stomach or bladder issues.  Drinking a lot of water and other “clear” liquids.  I can have basically whatever my system will take but they let me know that as I go through the week more and more food will not taste good.  I may get a very heavy metallic taste in my mouth.  They recommend to use plastic silverware for that.  I have a book that they have provided with “what to do if you have this side effect”.  It should help with eating tips and ways to reduce the side effects.  It also gives ideas for Jim if I am not eating how to help me with getting protein and making sure my system is getting what it needs.  Just so much to remember that I worry about missing something.

The good news is that I should be feeling better by the end of the week for the party! 🙂  Maybe a little tired but not sick feeling.

Thanks again for listening and sending your support!

Caring Bridge Comments

Lorelie|Apr 29, 2014 11:02am
You are a trooper! I’m thinking of you as you go through all of the crap! Looking forward to seeing you Saturday.