As I made ready to leave I picked up my trusty, always-with-me backpack. My nurse gave me a look and asked if she could see how heavy the pack was. Her astonishment at the weight (not that much but...) was followed by a stern warning that I just had surgery for the port and should NOT be shouldering the backpack on the same side! Sheepishly I switch sides and heard the amusement in her voice as she said "You're going to be trouble aren't you?". Me? Trouble, nah, I'm a nice guy!
That night however it all sort of hit me. I was aching from the previous day's Port surgery, and stressed by the Chemo non-event. Then I began the "What if..." game. "What if the chemo doesn't work?" "What if..." well, those questions can only be asked so many times before the tears start. After that the best and only solution is to sleep. So I did, and it's pretty amazing what 8 hours of real rest can do to one's outlook on life.
Now better rested after three days, I was ready to try this Chemo thing again. So Friday morning (May 14th) at 9:30 I was back in the chair. I felt strong, my Port didn't feel so uncomfortable and I was confident it would go well. The initial pin prick to insert the IV wasn't a big deal. I was ready to do this. Only someone forgot to tell my body what was going to happen to it.
They had given me a couple of 'anti-nausea' pills prior to inserting the IV into me. I was prepped and ready for anything. Except an unexpected and not-at-all delightful experience of inaugurating my first chemo experience by losing my breakfast. Tossing one's cookies in a public space causes several things to happen: large styrofoam cups are placed in front of you to contain the spill that would rival the BP Gulf Oil Well disaster. Nurses run over to you at lightning speed and curtains are shut to avoid distressing others in the room. Cold cloths are placed on your neck and you are injected with a drug that dries you up and takes away most of the unpleasantness. I alternated between chills and hot flashes. I was miserable. Throughout it all the nurses calmed me down and reiterated that if felt I was getting sick to immediately notify them, and the Angel of the Needle would quickly inject me with cosmic relief. Or something like that.
Chemotherapy for me consisted of in two parts. First is the classic sitting in a chair, as the chemo solution drips into you. Second is the pump. The pump is a 5FU bottle that also attaches to the chemo port and you wear it for 48 hours after you leave the chemo chair. Around 1PM that afternoon my first session was done, and the pump was attached to my port. It is a plastic bottle a little smaller than a sports drink bottle. Inside is a balloon filled with the 5FU chemo solution. It is essentially metered by the compression of the balloon and I think the ambient temperature. The pump feeds into the IV Port and is securely taped. Care must be taken to support the pump when you move, so it will not dangle precipitously. Therefore a special pouch can be bought that straps around your waist and the pump is securely contained on it. However sleeping with the damn thing can sometimes be annoying. Ok it is annoying, as I kept wondering if it would fall off the bed (it would) or I would roll over and crush it (I didn't). The picture of me with my chemo bear shows me wearing the 5FU pump on my left side. Chemo bear is wearing his own version.
So remember how optimistic I was about going through at least the first chemo with minimal impact. Oh how wrong I was. My spectacular debut performance in the Cancer Clinic was fortunately not repeated that weekend. I had several anti nausea pills to be taken ever 4 hours or 'as needed'. I suspect that the primary reason I didn't get sick the rest of the weekend was because I simply didn't eat. Absolutely no energy to eat, concentrate or do anything. Even watching tv was a chore. As side effects go it wasn't horrible. There were other effects however.
One effect which would occur on every subsequent chemo treatment were sore arms and chest after even mild physical exertion. During my convalescence I took great pride in being able to walk for kilometers or for extended periods of time. While on chemo, a walk of less than a 100 meters would invariably cause my upper arms around my biceps to get very sore, as if my muscles were being squeezed. Same thing for my chest. My first thought was that I was going to have a heart attack! Resting caused the effects to subside. Note that once I was off the chemo bottle these effects went away within a day.
Other side effects would present themselves during the course of the next several months, but I was incredibly fortunate that most were 'annoyances' and not too severe. Besides side effects there are other things to watch out for during the chemo process. Your chemo whacks the hell out of your immune system, making you susceptible to all sorts of other nastiness that your body simply can't handle. In particular oral hygiene is important as your mouth is affected. Thrush is a common condition in this circumstance, so naturally I got it.
Instead of a nice pink tongue Thrush gives you a white somewhat scummy looking one. This is due to a yeast infection. Sunday after my chemo bottle was removed I went into Emergency to get it checked out. Apparently this is not the smartest thing a chemo patient can do! For one thing you are still immune compromised, and you are in a room full of sick people! I was advised that I should wear a mask if I needed to visit an ER or public place. I was examined, the verdict was I had Thrush and I was given a prescription to be filled.
Off to the local Drugstore, where I presented the Pharmacist with my freshly-written and absolutely illegible prescription. He dutifully took it, and after a minute or so indicated that this was an over-the-counter drug. I was given a box, told it had exactly ONE pill. And it was $25.00. He also told me to "Ignore the writing on the side of the box". Which of course I didn't, it read: "For Vaginal Yeast Infections".
The remainder of the first chemo weekend was relatively uneventful. Slept alot, still wasn't eating much more than soup and took my pills. Never had a pill regimen in my prior life, so this was yet another new experience for me. Since this was going to occur every two weeks, I ended up having to write a chart for my 'weekend chemo pills'. Here's how it went:
Friday 10AM 10PM
Zofran X X
Decadron XXX
Prochloraparazine -every 4 hrs for nausea, if needed
Saturday Zofran X X
Decadron X
Prochlorparazine
Sunday Zofran X X
Decadron X
Prochlorparazine
Generally each 'X' is one pill. The day of the chemo I would end up taking 3 of the Decadrons. Usually I would end up taking the anti-nausea pill only the first day, with no need to take it for the rest of the weekend. I was very fortunate in this way. I would use this chart to remind me of what I had taken, and when to take it, during my remaining chemo treatments.
On the advice of my nurses, I would begin to record my temperature on a daily basis to watch out for fever. My oral hygiene now included rinsing my mouth with baking soda and warm saltwater. You can't floss as often (or at all) in case you slice up your gums. Forget any alcohol-based mouth wash too. Then there was one other little item, more cosmetic than medical, but it would save me some discomfort later on: shave my chest hair around my IV Port!.
When the chemo bottle is attached to you after your initial treatment, it eventually needs to be removed. This can only be done by a chemo-certified nurse, located in my case, at a clinic all the way across town. The procedure itself is a 5FU Pump Disconnect, and you are supplied with a kit to present to the nurse doing the procedure. What is disconcerting is that she will gown herself up, double gloves, mask and eye protection. A cloth is also placed over the patient to catch any drops that may spill as the pump is removed. You realize just how dangerous this stuff is, and you are in the same category as a toxic waste site. Then you realize that this stuff is going inside you...for the past 48 hours.
But the real pain/annoyance/dumb thing is the tape. Pulling that tape off renders your chest shiny smooth, as it's taken all the hair with it. Important safety tip: shave before chemo!
My first chemo was over. I had thrown up in the chemo chair. I had lost almost 5lbs. I got Thrush. I had zero energy for the entire weekend. My arms and chest were in pain if I did any physical exertion (like say, walking). This was going to make me better? Only five more treatments to go.
No comments:
Post a Comment