Many of the elements of this phase of chemo are the same as the last. I go in, they draw blood, we wait for labs, on some visits I'll either talk to my medical oncologist or the nurse practitioner who did my chemo teach. Refresher: a chemo teach is a information-heavy session where you go over everything chemo -- what you can and cannot eat, possible side effects, strategies to mitigate those side effects, when to go to the hospital, medication, etc. It's a time to ask any and all questions and it's really helpful but I think it can be overwhelming for a lot of people. I love information, so I thought it was great.
Anyway, when I meet with either my doctor or my NP, they check to see how I've been doing. They take my vitals (temperature, blood pressure, oxygen level), listen to my heart and lungs, check to see if the lumps in my breast and lymph nodes seem to be shrinking (the answer here is yes, which is great, and confirmed by the mammogram and sonogram I had last week). Basically if I'm not doing well, they can assess if I need more or different medication, if something needs to be adjusted, etc. Then I go back to the bay where I'll receive my infusion.
For taxol, the pre-meds are a little different than they were for AC. Pre-meds are the medication you receive before you get the actual chemo drugs to try to prevent side effects like an allergic reaction or nausea. In the first round, I was getting some steroids and both short-acting and long-acting anti-nausea meds before getting the chemo drugs, and they were done in two different steps. One drip and one injection (for the longer acting nausea) that left a strange banana taste in my mouth (bad). I also had to go back for a shot the next day to stimulate white blood cell production, and I had to take steroids for three days after, as well as anti-nausea meds for breakthrough nausea. This time, I just got one drip and it had dexamethasone (steroid), diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and famotidine (Pepcid). This is to help minimize an allergic reaction or any nausea or gastro side effects with treatment.
The Benadryl in the pre-meds made me sleepy, so I just hung out while all of this happened. As always, waiting for bloodwork results is the slowest part. It took almost two hours today, but it's fine. I sit in a comfortable chair, I eat snacks (peanut butter crackers have been restocked, along with the more exciting granola bars, so that was cool), I drink tiny Shastas (today a lemon lime soda). Today, I took a nap. Once bloodwork is back, the pharmacy starts mixing up the medication, and then you really get started.
The actual taxol treatment took an hour, and they iced my hands and my feet (just ice in bags that are put on my hands and feet, and I can take them off at various times, but the idea is you want those areas to be COLD) while I received the medication. This is because taxol can cause nerve damage especially to the fingers and toes. Keeping them iced helps constrict blood vessels, which means less of the medication makes it to those areas. If I start to feel tingling or numbness, I have to let them know, because nerve damage is no joke, and it's hard to fix. So far, so good.
My occupational therapist gave me some stiff blue putty to work with, because hand strength helps combat neuropathy in the fingers. If I hadn't been icing my hands, she recommended working with the putty, but since I did, I worked on it after. It's very funny to basically be sitting around playing with what looks like Play-doh, but I really do not want nerve damage! So I'm very happy to do what has been proven to help in these situations.
After it was over, I called Ben and he picked me up, then I took a nap. With AC, I would feel REALLY bad, and I would need to sleep for hours. This time, I took maybe an hour nap, maybe two, I felt a little rough but not nearly as bad, and I was feeling pretty good and like myself by about 4 pm (contrast to 2 am in the morning for AC, after a bad hangover-y series of hours).
We'll see how I feel tomorow, and we'll see how I do with the side effects. But at this point, AC was definitely the harder treatment. I'm feeling good! I had a nice dinner, I will probably go to sleep a little early since I got up at 6 am today, I'm feeling pretty normal. It's good.
No comments:
Post a Comment