The First AC Treatment
Wednesday, Novembwe 9: Well, we have decided to go with Dr. Allison. I had a chemo class there at the office. We watched a video on the do's and don'ts when you are on chemo. The oncology nurse goes over what each persons course of treatment will be and what to expect. It lasted about an hour. They also told me that on mondays there is a person that comes in to give complimentary massage and on tuesdays there is a dietician that comes in and you can go see her. Might have to take advantage of the massage! I am scheduled for my first AC treatment. I spent the weekend before hand getting ready for the harder treatment. We got the house really clean and I went to Sam's Club and stocked up on a lot of items. Probably all unneccessary, but it made me feel better. Nothing like having toilet paper and kleenex for the next 6 months. On Sunday the 6th, my hair started coming out. Not much, just a little bit. I was kinda surprised. I was led to believe that it would not come out on the taxol. ( again, this was by Dr. Maity who we now know is stupid) But then on Monday--it really came out. I bet I lost about 60% by the end of the day. I had gone shopping with Kit to find something to wear on my head. I have a tiny head and I can't wear adult stuff. I thought the GAP might have something cute. I ended up buying some winter tobaggan type hats there. They are ok. I found a nike baseball cap at Kohls and that is my favorite. I thought that I would lose all my hair by the end of last week, but some is still hanging on. I can still wear my baseball cap. If I were to go out to dinner or work I would have to wear a wig though. As of today, I probably only have about 15% of my hair left. I would be surprised if it didn't fall out by this weekend. They say that with adriamycin your hair will fall out in 10 to 14 days.
I am going for my chemo. I had my labs drawn first. If your white blood cell count is too low then you can't have chemo. Mine are fine. Then I went in for a Doctor visit. I saw Dr. Allison's nurse this time. I like her a lot. Her name is Cindy. She did an exam and asked about side effects or anything that was bothering me. At Dr. Maity's she never did any kind of exam. Here, they check my mouth for mouth sores (common chemo side effect.) Press on my stomach, listen to my heart, which is probably a good thing because chemo can damage your heart. I also had my blood pressure checked. It was 178/118. That is really bad. I went on into the chemo room where they were going to check my blood pressure again. It was still high. You know it is funny, I was sitting there thinking,"I hope they are not going to postpone this treatment." I think I would have been really upset if they would not have been able to go ahead that day!! They gave me some medicine to lower my BP, waited an hour and took it again. It was still high so they gave me another pill and it lowered it enough. Cindy went to tell Dr. Allison about my BP and she came in the chemo room to see me. She said, "I am so glad that you chose to come here." She told me to come back the next day and have my blood pressure checked. So, I start the new chemo. The nurse asks me if I would like to have some atavan. This is the same drug that I take to fly, so I am familiar with it. She says it will put me at ease and will help with nausea too. She said that I would be legally impaired and made sure I had a ride home. Kit went with me that day, so, I say "sure!" That stuff knocked me out for 24 hours!!! I watched them put the adriamycin in. It is not dripped in by an IV bag. It is in a big syringe and they inject it into my port. I think it only takes about 5 to 10 minutes, but I was already feeling the effects of the atavan so I don't even know. I remember them hanging the cytoxin and then I was OUT. Slept the whole time. They woke me up to go home. I called Robert on the way home and he decided to come home and watch me to make sure that I didn't have any reactions to the AC. I went home and went to bed. Robert woke me up at 4:00 to tell me he was taking Jason to football. I couldn't believe it was so late. I wanted to get up for a while, but I was so sleepy. I went back to sleep a few hours later and slept until the next morning. I think I will tell the nurse to ease up on the atavan next time.
I am going for my chemo. I had my labs drawn first. If your white blood cell count is too low then you can't have chemo. Mine are fine. Then I went in for a Doctor visit. I saw Dr. Allison's nurse this time. I like her a lot. Her name is Cindy. She did an exam and asked about side effects or anything that was bothering me. At Dr. Maity's she never did any kind of exam. Here, they check my mouth for mouth sores (common chemo side effect.) Press on my stomach, listen to my heart, which is probably a good thing because chemo can damage your heart. I also had my blood pressure checked. It was 178/118. That is really bad. I went on into the chemo room where they were going to check my blood pressure again. It was still high. You know it is funny, I was sitting there thinking,"I hope they are not going to postpone this treatment." I think I would have been really upset if they would not have been able to go ahead that day!! They gave me some medicine to lower my BP, waited an hour and took it again. It was still high so they gave me another pill and it lowered it enough. Cindy went to tell Dr. Allison about my BP and she came in the chemo room to see me. She said, "I am so glad that you chose to come here." She told me to come back the next day and have my blood pressure checked. So, I start the new chemo. The nurse asks me if I would like to have some atavan. This is the same drug that I take to fly, so I am familiar with it. She says it will put me at ease and will help with nausea too. She said that I would be legally impaired and made sure I had a ride home. Kit went with me that day, so, I say "sure!" That stuff knocked me out for 24 hours!!! I watched them put the adriamycin in. It is not dripped in by an IV bag. It is in a big syringe and they inject it into my port. I think it only takes about 5 to 10 minutes, but I was already feeling the effects of the atavan so I don't even know. I remember them hanging the cytoxin and then I was OUT. Slept the whole time. They woke me up to go home. I called Robert on the way home and he decided to come home and watch me to make sure that I didn't have any reactions to the AC. I went home and went to bed. Robert woke me up at 4:00 to tell me he was taking Jason to football. I couldn't believe it was so late. I wanted to get up for a while, but I was so sleepy. I went back to sleep a few hours later and slept until the next morning. I think I will tell the nurse to ease up on the atavan next time.
posted by Meredith @ 12:39 PM
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