The Big Chemo #1!

I woke up this morning pretty tired. The allergy medication I am taking makes it hard to sleep, but I was ready for today to begin. The waiting is over. Me, G and my mom arrived at the clinic and checked in and got my vitals done. We went back to the chemo waiting room and the chemo nurse that was going to treat me today came and got me. She said that her name was Autumn. Well, I instantly knew she was the Autumn I went to high school with! What a small world. This is the second person I have known who has treated me. It was great to see her and catch up with her throughout the day.

She took us back to the one private room because this was my first treatment. She needed to start an IV to test my blood. She had a hard time and said that this is usual when you know the patient she gets a little nervous. I told her I would be nervous too and she went and got DeAnn to start it. Well DeAnn too had a hard time finding a good vein, which didn't surprise me. I have always had crappy veins. When I went into labor with all of my boys, they could never get IV's started. After 3 sticks they finally got it in.

My blood work came back fine and they started the first bag, which was anti-nausea. It took about 20 minutes to push through. Next was the Taxotere. This drug is a plant alkaloid which is made from the bark of the Pacific Yew tree. They are an antimicrotubule agents, which inhibit the structure and disrupt the growth which then causes cell death. Fun stuff I am learning huh? This is the drug that they worry about an allergic reaction so they start it slowly and then watch for reactions. Well I passed with flying colors. No problems! I was about 2 hours in and all I had left was the Cytoxan.

Cytoxan is called the "anti-cancer" drug. Cancer cells lose the ability to divide like a normal cell. In order for chemo to work they have to halt this division process. Unfortunately, cytoxan cannot distinguish the difference between a cancer cell and a normal rapidly dividing cell. So what are normal rapidly dividing cells? The most commonly affected are the blood cells, cells in the mouth, stomach and bowel, and the hair follicles. This results in low blood counts, mouth sores, nausea, diarrhea and hair loss. So where does cytoxan come from? It is a mustard gas derivative. Ya that is pretty powerful stuff! Occasionally you can get a burning sensation in your sinuses but again I got through it just fine.

I have 3 prescriptions to help fight the nausea and an antibiotic in case I get a fever. G got those filled and we were on our way. By the time I was finished I was feeling extremely exhausted. I made it home and took a 3 hour nap. It felt so good to be home. I love my home so much and I always feel better when I am here. We had some sweet sisters in our ward bring some yummy chicken soup, bread sticks, fruit and treats for dinner. My boys loved it and so did G and I. Thank you...Thank you. I knew that I still needed to get my doctor ordered 30 minutes of exercise in, so I decided to try walking on our treadmill. I started walking and after a quarter mile I felt so good that I tried to jog. I managed to jog 3/4 of a mile and then went one more mile walking and jogging. I managed to break a sweat and that always makes for a good work out. I hope I don't pay for it tomorrow, but I never let my heart rate go above 130.

Tomorrow and the next day should be the most difficult. That is when the nausea will hit. I am surprised how well I am handling all of this. I thought for sure that I would have a serious crying session at the clinic today, but I held up just fine. I know that this is because there are so many of you who are praying for me. My testimony of prayer has grown tremendously! I can't help but thank my Heavenly Father for the strength I have felt. The nurses even said today that a lot of the bad reactions are worse if you have major anxiety. Thank you...thank you for the prayers. I don't think any of you will ever know just how much I rely on those prayers to keep me going each and everyday.

My next appt. is February 3rd. They call this the NADIR appt. This is when my white blood cells are the lowest and so they want to know just how low mine go. My next chemo dose is February 10. Below are pictures from today.

This is my nurse Autumn, we went to high school together! She was great!

This is DeAnn trying to get a vein. I am telling her that my right arm has better veins, but because they took 3 lymph nodes out I can never have IV's or Blood pressure from that arm so they are stuck with the left one.

Ya still trying. I am going to have a few bruises tomorrow.

This nurse is "Duece." Her real name is Lisa but there are several in the clinic and since she was the 2nd one there she got a new nickname. She taught G and I the chemo class. She was great and told Autumn that I would get through with flying colors and she was right!