5th chemo

5th chemotherapy done ✅

This time, no steroid drugs or allergy meds needed (Benadryl), just a little Zofran and Pepcid to get the job done. 

This is how we roll now and going forward! Now my premeds will not change.

Oh, and I managed to convince the acupuncturist that I will not digest the "ear seeds" she sticks on as treatment, unlike, I guess the majority of cancer paitients,...so she agreed to let me keep them on for the prescribed 5 days vs 1 hour. Will see if that makes any difference.

Chemo went off without a hitch --- just stung a bit, a fun flick, and some H2O... and was home in 5 hours. 

Any movie recommendations? I am running out of things to watch :)

4th chemo

4th chemotherapy done ✅

Today I finished half of the first chemotherapy (8 cycles), only 4 more to go with this one.

There are several firsts today:

1. First time I am using my newly inserted port, from last Thursday. As per instructions, slathered the incision with Lidocaine cream an hour and half before, so was almost painless! 

2. Wore a zipped up hoody, borrowed from Gwen at the last minute, in order to comfortably use the port vs my favorite cotton easy pull-on tops. Was a good decision, otherwise I would have had to walk around half naked once they draw blood for tests and attaché the needle to the port.

3. No steroids this time at all (!),  only 1/4 of Benadryl, because they didn't want to stop two medications at the same time, and 1/2 of Zofran. we are getting there -- to remove any additional poison that is not absolutely necessary from my chemotherapy cocktail.

4. Had an acupuncture treatment (ear seeds) while doing the chemo infusion.

2nd Chemo

At 7:10 am this morning it was already a familiar routine: 20 min drive, check in, IV, blood work, results and several hours in the infusion center. 

Today, to somewhat reduce George's anxiety, we decided that he would accompany me. This way George could see the process first hand, ask questions and hold my hand and feel useful. Gwen babysat Max and then went to work. 

For the 2nd chemo, my oncologist switched Benadryl to half the dose and in oral form instead of infusion, and lowered steroids a bit, though the rest of the premeds were kept intact. 

After all the premeds, I only had Taxol and Carboplatin for today's chemo, without the immunotherapy. Infusion wasn't as easy with pins and needles here and there, but absolutely manageable. Several hours later we were home around 2 pm. 

And, so far, no close acquaintance with the toilet, loss of appetite, or any other wonderful side effect, just fatigue (which is to be expected). 2 hour nap cured that!

As unique as I am, my side effects tend to show up four days later vs the next day. So we'll see what happens during New Year's celebration on Sunday.

Second chemo ✅