Chemotherapy One

I got four drugs administered during my chemo session. The first drug I was administered was Zofran, which in an antinausea med. The next drug (Desamethasone) was a steroid, and I need to clarify exactly what it was for next time I have it administered. My understanding at the time was that it was to minimize the chance I would have an allergic reaction to the actual chemotherapy drugs, but now that I'm thinking about it I think it may have been for nausea as well.

Next came the actual chemo drugs. The first was Adriamycin. This drug had to be push fed by a nurse thru a syringe (into my port) for the entire treatment. It actually was a very pretty dark red drug (often referred to as "The Red Devil") and was a very climatic way to start chemo. I got to watch that pretty red poison travel from the syringe, down about 2 feet of clear tubing, right into my port (next to my heart). I wanted to scream and celebrate all at the same time. This was the only drug I felt any kind of immediate physical change with. Within a minute or so of the drug entering my port, the roof of my mouth and back of my throat got itchy... nothing drastic, but definitely there. I immediately told the nurse administering and she put the brakes on and consulted another nurse. The second nurse asked if I tasted anything? Yes, it was a weird taste. The closest thing I could come up with was maybe what it would taste like if someone sprayed perfume and you got a tiny bit in your mouth.... bitterish yuck would be the non-technical description. She said this was a common side effect in younger women and we could proceed (under supervision). The remainder of "The Red Devil" was administer with no complications.

The final chemo drug is called Cytoxan. This was definitely the most time consuming part of the treatment. The total time spent administering all of the drugs was a little over 2.5 hours, I think. Once we were finished, we headed over to the pharmacy to pick up my three prescriptions for antinausea medication.

The day after treatment I have to receive the Neulasta shot to help my bones produce more white blood cells since chemo kills white blood cells. So today, I head to my local hospital for that shot. Then on Friday, I go in for blood work, so they can check my blood cell counts.

My next treatment and a followup with Oncology will happen on the 26th of March (right before my two oldest children's birthdays) at our local hospital. I should expect to lose my hair shortly after that treatment. I'm hoping my hair hangs on long enough, so my kids don't have a bald Mom on their birthdays.

Side effects: So far, I haven't experienced much for side effects. About 4 hours post treatment, I did start to feel nauseated, so I took one of my meds and since getting out of bed I have had to take another. But once that medication kicks in the nausea isn't so bad... more like what I felt being in the first trimester of pregnancy and know I wasn't going to throw up, but still feeling very woozy. The steroid drug administered causes insomnia, so I really haven't slept at all. I am exhausted, but my body won't seem to fall into a deep enough relaxed state to actually sleep. I've had some minor stomach pains as well.

Precautions: During treatment I learned something that none of my pretreatment reading told me. Apparently, the chemotherapy drugs I received can be transferred to other people thru my bodily fluids. And I guess this stuff is so nasty that they don't want to chance anyone being exposed to even a residual amount thru me. (Doesn't make me feel great since full strength is being ran straight thru my veins, but it must be better then having cancer). So I have to take special precautions.

The first precaution is double flushing. For the first couple of days post treatment, every time I use the bathroom, I have to double flush. And they also forewarned me that the pretty red chemo that goes in red, comes out red. And it happens immediately. I had to pee so bad after getting all those drugs and drinking 4-5 cups of water during treatment, that I stopped at the first bathroom I saw and sure enough, red pee.

In addition, I cannot kiss anyone for a few days post treatment. Apparently my saliva touching their skin is bad. So no kisses for my kiddos or hubby(and obviously, nothing else for hubby either... poor guy). My youngest son had a really hard time with no bedtime kiss, because we have a silly bedtime routine that he loves and part of it is a kiss. It took quit awhile to calm him down when he realized he wasn't getting a kiss. And my kisses are owie fixers for him as well. He could be traumatized by a bump and all I have to do is give a small kiss and all is well. What am I to do now?

Also, I have to drink a very large amount of fluids the day of and for a couple days after treatment (3 quarts). Apparently, they want the drugs in long enough to do their thing and then out as fast as possible. So the more I drink, the faster the drugs are removed.