1st Treatment
Alright, that wasn’t so bad. Although, I reserve the right to take that statement back in a couple of days if I feel like &%$#!
Before my appointment, my husband and I stopped in to take a look at spa store they have at the cancer institute. They can handle all the “makeover” needs like wigs, head covers etc. They also offer the facials and massages. From what I’ve been told I will probably start losing my hair in 10-14 days. While I was in treatment my husband set up an appointment for next week before my second round to talk with a hair consultant. I’m not so crazy about losing my hair, but I sure won’t miss those occasional hairs on my chin that seem to pop up overnight! Good riddance!
I’ve had short hair for years and I was taking a look at some wigs online and like the Raquel Welch wigs. The director of the spa was telling us that wigs can range anywhere from $300 for synthetic hair to $3500 for European hair wigs! What’s the matter with American hair?
I was examined by my oncologist and the nurses in charge of the clinical trial before treatment began. We went over possible side effects, etc. and then headed down the hall to the chemotherapy room. It was a large room with big windows and several nice lounge chairs for the cancer patients, but rather uncomfortable chairs for the family member or friend that accompanied the patient. Those chairs had padded seats, but low, curved, backs with wooden armrests. My 6′ 3″ husband looked so uncomfortable in that chair. If I had a say in the these type of decisions I would like to see small private rooms that had two lounge chairs and a small TV.
The nurse I had was great – she explained everything she was going to do. At first, she was just going to numb the area where the port was with a spray, but because the area was still bruised from the port surgery she gave me a shot of lidocaine. She drew some blood first and then administered steroids, anti-nausea medication and Benadryl through the port. They give you Benadryl just in case you are allergic to the chemo drugs. Everyone in my family knows that Benadryl just knocks me out. If I take Benadryl for a cold, I’m asleep in about 15 minutes. So, for me to get a shot of Benadryl directly into the blood stream – it was lights out in about 5 minutes. It produced this strange heavy feeling in my legs and arms. It eventually wore off by the end and next week they’ll cut that in half the Benadryl dose in half. She said the steroids might keep me awake tonight, but we’ll see.
The Taxol took about a 1 and 1/2 hours and then she hooked up the Avastin for an additional 1 and 1/2 hours. With the Avastin, blood pressure checks had to be done everry 15 minutes, because one of the side effects can be high blood pressure – no problems there. They should be able to reduce the time for Avastin to 1 hour and than 30 minutes if I tolerate it well.
One of the things I noticed while sitting there is that 75% of the patients were women. Do women get more cancer than men? I’ll have to research that.
On the way home we had to stop for a few things: 1. a couple of pizzas and sub from Mellow Mushroom, 2. a visit to GNC to pick up L-Glutamine which is supposed to help with muscle and joint pain I may experience and 3. a stop at the pharmacy to fill an anti-nausea medication.
All-in-all, I’d say a good day and score one for me!
2 Responses to “1st Treatment”
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Thought about you all day..hope things continue to go as smooth. I think you’d look great with Welch’s hair…lol
Glad to hear the first one is behind you and that you did well.