Chemo...Day One

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. For me it was a day of unknowns. I had radiation at 11am and chemo was scheduled at 1pm. I kept telling myself it should only take an hour, I can get through it and I will be home by 2:30 or 3 at the latest. I got myself ready and drove over to the radiation clinic. At least today I knew what to expect and I started the countdown in my head. Only 27 more radiation treatments to get through. Radiation was still a little traumatic for me. I was ok when the machine was over me and under me, even to my left side it was bearable, but when it was on my right side it blocked my view of the room. In my head I knew that the machine was not closing me in, but for some reason it still started the panic. I would close my eyes until it passed from sight and that is the only reason that I did not have a panic attack. Radiation was done, and I would only need to meet with my doctor once a week for an update and to talk about any side effects I was having. Since I still did not like this doctor, that suited me just fine. 

I got in my car and headed over to the hospital to check in for my chemotherapy. You may ask, what is chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy (also called chemo) is a type of cancer treatment that uses drugs to destroy cancer cells.Chemotherapy works by stopping or slowing the growth of cancer cells, which grow and divide quickly. But it can also harm healthy cells that divide quickly, such as those that line your mouth and intestines or cause your hair to grow. Damage to healthy cells may cause side effects. Often, side effects get better or go away after chemotherapy is over.

I arrived a little early and filled out the paperwork to admit myself for the treatment. It took about a half hour to check in and get my id bracelet then one of the nurses took me up to the cancer wing. She gave my paperwork to the nurse at the desk who got me a room assignment. The nurse took me to my room, I did not have a window bed, but I was only going to be there for an hour.  The nurse that would be administering my chemo got me set up in the bed with water, the tv remote and the call button. She told me that an IV (intravenous) nurse would be in to start my IV. I was really not looking forward to this part...I hate needles, especially when they are in my skin for an extended period of time. The nurse came and set my IV up in my right arm, it did not really hurt too much. I asked her not to put it in my hand because when I had had it in my hand for surgery it was bruised and very sore for over two weeks. She started the IV solution, which at this time was just saline, and then she left. 

I lay in the bed watching tv and watching the clock, I only had to get through an hour and I could go. After an hour the nurse came in to change my IV bag, I asked her when I could leave, and she said I had another hour of saline, then an hour of chemo and then two more hours of saline! I started to freak out and I told her that my doctor had said it would only take an hour. She said the chemo itself was an hour, but I needed to keep hydrated or the chemo could be dangerous. I needed two hours of saline for hydration before the chemo and then two hours of saline to cleanse the chemo drugs from my body. I was in shock that I needed to be here for treatment for five hours! I had skipped lunch because I figured I would eat right after chemo. Lunch was over at the hospital, but my nurse was able to get me a turkey sandwich that they had in the refrigerator for this kind of situation. (It was replaced daily so it was fresh.) 

I wish my doctor would have told me that I would have to be at chemo for so long. I could have brought a book and some snacks or something. Of course to make matters even worse, my tv remote was broken, so the tv was stuck on CSPAN with no volume. My day was going from bad to worse. I told the nurse and she was able to get someone to come up and fix the remote control so I could at least watch tv for five hours....

The first two hours were finished and now came the chemo. I did not know what to expect, would I be nauseous? what would it feel like? I guess I would be finding out very soon. The nurse came with the IV bad filled with chemotherapy drugs. First she injected an anti-anxiety drug into my IV and then I took some anti-nausea pills. Now came the chemo. My nurse hooked up a new saline bag and the chemo bag and adjusted them to drip together into the IV tube. She set up the chemo IV infusion pump 

Infusion pumps can administer fluids in ways that would be impractically expensive or unreliable if performed manually by nursing staff. For example, they can administer as little as 0.1 mL per hour injections (too small for a drip), injections every minute, injections with repeated boluses requested by the patient, up to maximum number per hour (e.g. in patient-controlled analgesia), or fluids whose volumes vary by the time of day.(wikipedia)

Having chemo running through my veins did not feel any different than the saline except it was cold. It was like ice water being pumped into my veins...mental note...next time bring a jacket! I covered myself with blankets and just waited for it to be over. Once the chemo was done, I was hooked up to the regular saline again, at least my time was more than half over. Finally it was done! The nurse came and removed my IV, and I got ready to leave. I was told to let my doctor know about any side effect from the chemo. Here is a list of the common side effects:

At least I knew I could cross a few off my list. I was assured I would not lose my hair and I no longer had any reproductive organs. I was hoping that I would not get many side effects. I left the hospital and headed home. It was good to be home at last, I could change the count to four chemotherapy sessions left. I did not have any effects that night and hoped I was going to skip the side effects. I felt fine, a little tired, but fine! Until I woke up on Thursday........