Chemo treatment #3

Well, this was the hardest treatment so far. Not the treatment itself, but the after effects. We got there at 12:45 and were actually taken back on time. No emergencies this time. I sat in my usual chair in the corner and was given my Tylenol and Benadryl. I had Nurse Katie again and she hooked me up to the mediport, which hurts going in less often each time. It stings a bit once it's in and I can feel most of the drugs running through it. I never actually looked at the needle until yesterday. Big mistake. It's the size of a small nail. Looks similar to this:
Mine isn't a butterfly needle like this one, but has a cover over the top of it. You can see it in the other 2 chemo albums.

Blood was drawn again from the mediport and my numbers came back good. The saline drip and Aloxi/Decadron drip were started. Following that was Ativan, my happy juice. My vitals were good, except for my blood pressure, which was high. Temp: 98.2, BP: 136/94, Pulse: 89. The chemo drugs were given in a different order this time starting with the push in drugs: Adriamycin and Vinblastin. Next came the Bleomycin, followed by the 2 hour Decarbazine drip.

As you can tell from some of the pictures, I fell asleep this time. I've been so exhausted the past few days. Starting school can do that I guess. And going to see Tom Petty on Wednesday night probably had a little something to do with it. :) It was well worth it, though. Matt and I got tickets for my mom for Mother's Day. We had a blast and Tom was awesome! I have a list of friends and family that I send out text messages to to keep them updated through the process. This time, unfortunately, they didn't get the full rundown. Sleep interfered and I kinda left them hanging. Sorry, guys!

I have 4 new kiddos this year, bringing my total up to 12. I'm starting to get worn out more easily. I come home and rest most days. It was hard leaving my kids yesterday afternoon. Only a couple of them can grasp that I'm going to the doctor. They don't know much of my diagnosis and I'm not sure how to explain it to them. I just prepare them that I'm only there a half a day. One of my 5th grade boys actually hugged me, told me he loved me and wished me good luck.

I have more nausea this time than last time. I've noticed the increase each time I have treatment. It starts a couple of hours after treatment and I still have it now. It's really more stomach cramps. I can eat little meals, and have, but for the most part, I'm not very hungry. I've had a headache on and off, as well.

Remember in my previous blogs I've mentioned the fact that I'm stubborn??? Well...I still have my hair. According to the professionals, hair loss occurs 14-17 days after your 1st treatment. I'm about 2 weeks overdue and my hair hasn't even thinned yet. That's not saying I'm not going to lose it, but as Matt and Nurse Katie confirmed yesterday, I'm a freak. :) I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it holds. 2% of people keep their hair, but Nurse Kelly (my 1st chemo nurse) says she's been doing this a long time and has never seen someone keep their hair. We'll see!

Something funny I should add, too. On Fridays at my school, we can wear jeans and a school shirt. I wore my GPISD Wellness shirt. I liked the irony of wearing a wellness shirt to chemo. HA! I take humor where I can find it.

Well, that's all for now. I'm pretty tired, as usual. I'll keep this updated on my side effects. :)

Not a lot of info...

The title says it all. No info in my house these days is a good thing. I have 2 more nights of the Neupogen shots left. They hurt more and more...Matt says he can see the previous holes so he's avoiding those. Fortunately, I've experienced only minor bone pain. Not like last time. I've had headaches on and off, but the good news is--I can still sleep! I haven't had a lot of insomnia lately. Going back to work and being on a schedule, I believe, helped that situation.

I did learn something cool on Friday. You can actually "pull" your mediport...like a muscle. I talked to nurse Katie and she said the mediport is sewn to your chest muscle. I guess I never really thought about it, even though I have the instructions on how to insert it here at home. Came with the mediport. Anyhow, I guess I've been doing more lifting lately with being at school and I somehow managed to pull the muscle attached to the mediport. Leave it to me to find a way to do that. It's a little sore.

As far as treatments go...I think Lisa wins. Nothing against my nurses--I like them all a lot--but getting radiation by a gorgeous Greek is definitely a plus! Makes the pill a little easier to swallow, if you know what I mean.

Tomorrow is the kid's 1st day back to school. My school holds a sneak-a-peek every year the week before school. I got to see most of my kiddos on Thursday. That was fun! I have mostly boys and they've all gotten so big! I'm looking forward to seeing them everyday. They bring so much joy and laughter into my life. I'm sure I'll be posting stories on here (sorry, parents!). Also, tomorrow is my Phoebe's 3rd birthday!

Phoebe:

I realized I'm being biased by posting a picture of her and not my other 2. I'll post them soon enough.

Now I must be off to bed. Yes, I realize it's only 6:07, but I have to rest up for tomorrow. Thanks and good night!

Blah.

So far my week has been okay. I felt the worst today. Tired and sore, mainly. From the Neupogen shots, I assume. We're on day 3 of those. Only 5 more to go. At least I'm sleeping at night, which is a plus. I still feel like--and look like I feel like--a walking zombie! My mouth is getting back to normal. That's an annoying side effect. If you've ever had braces, it feels like getting them tightened. And I did so I know. I heard from other Hodgkin's patients that they felt the worst the first 1-5 days after their treatment. I'm a little different. I usually feel okay for a couple of days after mine...not great, but okay. Then the side effects kick in after that and that's when I go downhill. Could possibly be because my treatments are on Friday and I'm able to rest for the weekend.

I've been in meetings all week, so all-in-all it's been pretty laid back. I've seen a lot of old friends the past couple of days, which was really, really nice. A lot of friendly faces and hugs. Those are always welcome. I got a request today to put up a link to my recipes. I'll get that up soon. For you, Kim. :)

That's all for now. Thanks and goodnight.

Work.

Well, work started for me today. Thank goodness for easy days! We had a meeting this morning, but then I was free to work in my room this afternoon. That mainly consisted of working for 10 minutes then resting. I feel more winded than usual. Normal, I suppose.

I'm starting to experience side effects. I feel crappy in general. Similar to how you'd feel if you were getting the flu. Mainly tired. I'm running on about 3-4 hours sleep a night. Not consistently, either. Maybe an hour here and there. I've had minor nausea. Not even as bad as last time. Yea!!! No headaches yet, but my mouth and throat hurt. Last time that only lasted a couple of days. I'm hoping the same for this time. I've been craving smoothies lately. I've indulged in those the past couple of days instead of eating. I figure that's better than nothing at all! :) It's strange how it changes your taste for things and eating habits. I can't drink coffee here, at home, anymore. Out is okay, but it tastes funny to me here.

I still have the Bleomycin on my arm from the allergy test 2 weeks ago. I asked my oncologist's nurse and the chemo nurse and both said it's been a long time since they've seen that last so long. I told you...I prove to be a difficult patient. Oh, well.

I finished my 3 days worth of anti-nausea drugs this morning and my Neupogen shots start tonight. I'm dreading those. Not the shot so much as the bone pain that'll follow. I only had 2 days of shots last time. From now until I'm done with chemo, it'll be 8 days of shots following each chemo treatment. Blah.

On another note, I am enjoying the rainy weather! Yea!

Sleep!!!!!

I was able to sleep last night!! Hooray! I'm hoping that's a good sign. Of course my insomnia didn't appear until a couple of days after taking the Decadron, which is the culprit, but I hold out hope. I had some mild nausea last night. Somewhat worse than last time. Still nothing I can't handle. I made the mistake of eating a slightly larger meal than after my last chemo. Must remember to stick to small meals throughout the day. That's quite hard for someone who likes to eat as much as me.

I'll be updating this as the day goes on. Hopefully with no more news. I'll be spending the majority of my day baking. My mom and I are providing our staff with breakfast goodies for Monday. That's when I start back and plan on being there. I'll be making scones again (vanilla, cinnamon and orange cranberry) plus a pumpkin cake roll with cream cheese filling and some english muffin loaves. Mom's making banana bread, chili cheese balls (sorta like sausage balls minus the sausage, add green chilies), mini muffins (blueberry and triple berry), and biscuits. We have our work cut out for us.

That's all for now. :)

Update (5:32 pm)--I feel okay. Tired for the most part. I added what I have of surgery pics, if you're interested. Enjoy!

Chemo treatment #2

Before I update you on my 2nd chemo treatment, let me tell you about the last couple of days. I did end up experiencing bone pain. Not mild, either. I was taking ibuprofen every 6 hours and it didn't help. It hurt so bad the night before last I was in tears. Matt got me a heating pad and with the combination of the ibuprofen, it eased the pain and I was able to sleep. The pain was gone the next day. It was mainly concentrated in my back hip bones. Looking forward to that again soon.

We got to my appointment today at 10:30. We waited for an hour before we were finally brought back to the lounge. There was a minor emergency with another patient and he ended up being taken away by an ambulance. Once we got back to "our" chair, I was hooked up to the mediport. My nurse today was Katie. Blood was drawn from the mediport (I made the mistake of looking down at it...surreal) and sent off to the lab for my WBC. During this time, my vitals were taken: temp-98.2, blood pressure-137/90. After about 10 minutes, the count came back. We were hoping for a 1.2 at least. It was a 2.4! Yea! At least we know the shots were working. I was immediately put on the antinausea drip (which I found out is called Aloxi and is mixed with Decadron.) Go here for more information on Aloxi: www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/aloxi.htm

After the Aloxi, came the Ativan. I found out some more information on Ativan, too. It is also an antiemetic (which is the technical term for helps with nausea) and has a relatively potent amnesic effect, which makes you forget about the nausea if you did have some. Wow. Katie was telling us these were discovered after the fact. Pretty cool.

Next came the Bleomycin-a 20 minute IV drip. Then came the Adriamycin (the red death, the red monster, or the red devil--take your pick at the nickname...), which looks like this:

Nurse Katie, Adriamycin, and me

After the Adriamycin came Vinblastin. After that was the Decarbazine, a 2 hour drip. All in all, it was pretty much the same as last time. Pretty uneventful. Thank goodness. I posted some more pics from today under the other chemo album. You can get a more close up pic of the Adriamycin. Now I wait for the side effects. Hopefully I'll have less insomnia. Only time will tell...

Thanks and good night!

More pain, no gain.

Let me first apologize for not updating sooner. I let life get in the way and my laziness took over. Oops! Prepare for a long blog...really. Stock up on food and water. It's gonna be a long night...

Things have been okay. A lot of ups and downs the past couple of days. There's been some baking going on around here. :)

I had my first checkup yesterday and the news was good and bad:

Good news: I might only have to do 3 cycles of chemo instead of 4. Each "cycle" is 2 treatments. So basically, 1 cycle is a month's worth of chemo. Make sense?? I guess the easier way to say that is 3 months of chemo instead of 4. This will be determined after my second cycle of chemo. I'll be getting another PET scan done. If the cancer is gone, only one more cycle. If there are still signs, then all 4 cycles.

Bad news: my white blood count (WBC) was extremely low. This is called neutropenia and is expected during chemo. It was .7. A .5 would have had me admitted to the hospital for infection, regardless of if there was one or not. They can't administer the chemo until my WBC is 1.2. I had mentioned in my blog "reality strikes" that I would possibly have to take Neupogen shots everyday for this. I'll be giving them to myself, or rather Matt's the one who learned how to do it, for 8 days after each chemo treatment. The shots are given in my stomach, rotating sides. The feeling is not great, but the side effects are worse. Always a catch-22 with these meds. Yes, it'll help my WBC, which is great, but the side effect?? Bone pain. Yep. Since Neupogen causes the bone marrow to produce more white blood cells, the byproduct of this is bone inflammation. I'll experience it in my back, the long bones in my legs and in my sternum, since these have the highest percentage of bone marrow. Unfortunately, it's not a possible side effect, but a probable one. Yippee!

We also talked about the radiation. I'll have an appointment soon with that doctor to discuss the treatment procedure and length of treatment. My oncologist's nurse said that the treatment is usually 5 days a week and there are usually 16-18 treatments. More on that when I learn.

Other than that, my vitals were good--temp: 97.9 blood pressure: 116/64 (which is low for me considering I've been on high blood pressure meds for 5 years due to heredity. Thanks, Dad.) I have lost 3 pounds since my last chemo treatment. Not because of lack of food, but because it's changing my taste buds. I'm only craving healthy foods. Blah! I'd rather have Mexican food anyday (and did yesterday), but just can't seem to want it. That's torture for Matt and I, who eat Mexican food at least 4 times a week. I've cut down on carbonated drinks and have almost cut out fried food. Bor-ing!!!

My next treatment is Friday. I'm hoping for the same results as last time. Well...with a little less insomnia. At least I know what is expected and will go in more confident than the first time.

Now...for something else NOT about me. Well...sort of. My librarian, Elaine, found the coolest thing thanks to her daughter! There are some very colorful binders and folders available at your local stores that some of the proceeds go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Go here for details: http://www.jackiemcfee.com/main2.php Once there, click on the Kendall Collection tab. You can read the story and find the nearest store. I know that Elaine found hers at Staples. Yea!!!! I'll also be participating in the Light the Night walk, hosted by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Once I have a team and date set up, I'll post the info on that.

Time for dinner now. Thanks and good night.

Victories.

One thing I've learned as a teacher, that I took for granted in my former life, is to celebrate the small successes. My kids are the ones that taught me this. I don't teach ordinary kids...my kids are the most amazing kids ever. They struggle through day to day activities, never giving up. In our class, we don't celebrate test grades or well written essays. We have small victory parties and tears over tying shoes for the first time or swinging by yourself on the playground without help or writing all of your numbers in order or being proud of new shoes. These are behaviors that other kids do without thinking, and most of the time, without effort. They pick up these traits naturally. My kids have to learn them.

So I've learned to bring these small victories into my life. I'm still experiencing side effects of the meds. Headaches are the new one. I've had some raging ones the past couple of days. I was told not to take aspirin or the like for fear of thinning the blood too much. My husband brought me a warm washcloth every 30 minutes to help...in the middle of the night. :) I have to admit though...the pain was more than I could handle. Headaches and lack of sleep are not a great combination and yesterday morning, I saw no end in sight. This is going to be a long 4 months. I finally put a call into my nurse who told me, thankfully, I could take 2 Tylenol. Yea! The pain of the headache had finally gone away leaving me in a state of euphoria. I'm still not sleeping well, but at least I'm sleeping. A grand total of 4 hours last night.

So to sum up, here are a list of victories that kept me going:
1. I can take Tylenol.
2. My sleeping routine is falling back into place.
3. My mom brought me Subway for lunch yesterday.
4. My husband rocks.
5. I've almost made it through my 1st week of chemo.
6. I'll get to see my kids soon.
7. I'm having lunch with a friend today I haven't seen in months.
8. And, not to brag, but my friends and family are better than yours. ;)

I'll take "sleep" for $500.

So as the days wear on, I've noticed having a few more side effects of the medicine. Just my body's way of saying, "What the hell???" The first night, I had a strange tingling sensation in my legs. It went away the next day. Also-and this is odd-but my teeth feel funny. Almost like a burning sensation. What chemo does is target and destroy rapidly growing cancer cells. Unfortunately, there are 3 other cells that grow just as rapidly that the chemo doesn't quite know the difference in: hair follicles (resulting in hair loss), bone marrow, and the cells in your mouth. Chemo actually kills the cells that produce saliva causing dry mouth. I ate a grape tonight and it might as well have been a jalapeno. Of course, the more I eat, the less I notice it. That's a good solution I plan on sticking to. :)

Another, and more annoying side effect, is insomnia. I've never been one to have any trouble sleeping. Anytime, anywhere. Now I've had trouble sleeping the past couple of months (not due to this, I don't think), but to add to that, one of my antinausea meds causes insomnia. Yippee!! I was told to take 2 Benadryl (which I did) and still...no sleep. Now don't get the wrong impression. I'm tired. But the Sandman and I have not been on the friendliest of terms lately.

Oh well. So it goes. There's always going to be some side effect, something minor, that I'll be experiencing. I didn't know what else to do, so here I sit and write.

Now, I must try to get some sleep. Thanks and good night.

Something slipped my mind.

A tad bit of good news we received on Friday...my bone marrow came back clean and clear!!! I was so overloaded with information (and meds!) that day, it kinda went in one ear and out the other. I remembered after the Ativan fog wore off. Oops!! I'll try to do better with that. :)

So far things are going okay. I feel better than expected and hope this lasts. I'm still very tired most of the time. Resting a lot. I have waves of nausea here and there, but nothing that's keeping me bedridden, like I thought and heard other Hodgkin's patients say. I just feel crappy overall. Nothing I can't handle, though. Thank goodness! I heard the horror stories of the nausea and was terrified of it. I heard it can get worse as time goes on, and I'm prepared for it, but I thought my first treatment would be that way. I was pleasantly surprised. Never thought I'd ever be saying that about chemo!!! Ha!!!

And I haven't forgotten about the surgery pics. I have most of them uploaded and will try to put up that link later today. I know you can't wait!

Chemo treatment #1

Well, today was it. My appointment was at 10:30. Shortly after arriving, Matt and I were taken back to the infusion room, where the chemo is given. It's also called the "chemo room", "chemotherapy room", or the "chemo lounge" (my personal favorite). There are about 10 seafoam green Lazyboy type chairs in their own "cubbies" with walls dividing them. Once I sat down, the nurse (we had Kelly today), went over every drug, their name, their side effects, what the purpose of each is. Each drug had about 3-4 pages of info. Told you before, they really, really want you to be aware of these. After going over the drugs, Kelly accessed the mediport. Looks like this:

The needle is at a 90 degree angle and covered with a blue tip. It hurt for a millisecond going in, but was okay after that. Tape is placed over the tip to hold it in place. First I'm hooked up to a saline drip to keep me hydrated. Next come 1 Benadryl and 2 Tylenol. The Benadryl is to help in case I have an allergic reaction to the Bleomycin. The Tylenol is to keep down the "fake" fever that some of the other drugs are known to give. Next I receive an anti-nausea drip that takes 20 minutes. This is one of the newest drugs on the market. Research shows that there is actually a gland in your brain, known as the "vomiting gland". This drug specifically triggers this gland and kinda shuts it down. I don't recall the name of the drug, but will find out next time.

Next, I had an allergy test to the Bleomycin. It's rare, but can happen. The Bleomycin is shot under the skin of the forearm. Much like a TB test, if you've ever had that done. (Of course my brother and I did all the time because my mom had TB when she was a kid. And we didn't get the little 10 needle prick shot, either. I'm talking a 10 inch needle under the skin. Yeah.) My nurse prefaced this with "This is the most painful thing you'll have all day. Or ever." Okay...thanks for the heads up. Oh...she was right, too. A wee bit painful. After 20 someodd minutes of watching it, I had no reaction.

The next drug to be administed was Ativan, an anti-anxiety med. Same one from the bone marrow test. Not the lollipop, the other one. This hit instantly, as it's given straight through the mediport. Nice. :)

Finally the drugs are administered. First comes the Bleomycin...a 20 minute or so IV drip. When that's done, the Adriamycin (the red one) is administered by hand by Kelly followed by the Vinblastin, also by hand. Lastly, the Decarbazine is given by IV drip, which takes another 2 hours. All and all, Matt and I were there for over 4 hours. In the future, I'm told anywhere between 2 1/2 hours to 3 hours.

All and all today was not as bad as I thought. The injection site is a little sore. So far, I've had no nausea. It's about time to take the other 2 anti-nausea meds, just in case. They told me to take them whether I feel I need them or not. The only side effect I've experienced thus far is extreme sleepiness. Part due to the Ativan, part due to the chemo. I've already taken a nap and will go to bed once this is posted. But other than that... I posted pics of the rest of the time we were there below the hair album.

Thanks and good night. :)