‘cancer’ Category
Nice to feel normal
It’s been just over a week since chemo number 2, and yesterday I’d say I felt almost completely back to normal. That’s a big improvement over the first round, where by this time I was unable to keep food down, unable to sleep, and had terrible headaches. I had a follow-up appointment with my oncologist on Monday, and he said I was doing quite well. My blood tests that day were very good, not only compared to the previous round, but even compared to my normal levels. The only thing that was still low was my red cell count. That’s been low for me for a while due to my Crohn’s disease and poor absorption of folic acid and vitamin B-12. I’ve been bad about remembering to take my folic acid supplements, so I need to fix that and see if I can get the red counts up. I’ve been working all week as well, which feels good, although I notice that I start getting tired in the afternoon and need to stop before 5pm. I’m glad that my chemo timing means that I’ll feel completely normal for Christmas, since we’re making a big turkey dinner (since we skipped the turkey during Thanksgiving this year).
Getting the hang of things
This second treatment has gone more smoothly than the first in every way. I guess knowing what to expect helps to prepare, both physically and mentally. The bad food taste was the first symptom to hit, a day earlier this time (Thursday). Fortunately, it still only lasted about two days, just like last time, so by Saturday food started tasting more normal again. The mouth pain and sores are back, but not as severe as last time, probably because I started the “clean mouth routine” the day after chemo. The routine includes brushing teeth at least 6 times a day, rinsing with salt water, and rinsing frequently with the “magic mouthwash”. The pain is annoying, but not debilitating like last time.
I went to work Thursday and Friday, and ended up having a really busy day Saturday, so I think I over-did it a bit. Tried to go out and do things Sunday, and started feeling really tired, dizzy, and nauseous and had to come home. Crashed into bed and slept for a couple hours. Guess I need to be realistic and not try to pretend I’m not going through chemo! I’ve also again got some cold symptoms – headache, runny nose, etc. like last time. Hopefully in a couple days I’ll be mostly better and will have avoided any new symptoms. Going to try to take tomorrow at a slower pace.
Tracking Symptoms
The day after my second chemo is going well so far. I’m a little tired, but no other issues. I’ve been keeping track of various symptoms (nausea, fatigue, bone pain, etc.) since starting chemo two weeks ago, and now have plots similar to the blood tracking plots. It’ll be interesting to see how the second round goes compared to the first. The full-size plot page with all my symptoms is linked here. Below are a couple samples (resized down to fit this page):
Chemo round 2
Today’s second round of chemo (technically the second part of my first treatment cycle) went much more smoothly than the first. We got off to a late start – I was in the waiting room until 10:40 even though my appointment was for 10am – but finished around 2pm, so a little over 3 hours of actual treatment.
The new port worked great, and saved time in lots of ways. I was hooked up to the IV in about 20 seconds instead of many minutes, and it left my hands and arms free which made laptop use much easier. The three “push” drugs took about 30 minutes total, and the final “drip” drug took almost two hours. Next time I’m going to ask them to speed it up because it’s only supposed to take 60-90 minutes.
I had no ill effects during the treatment, but about half an hour after getting home, I felt a wave of fatigue hit me. I stretched out on the sofa, and was sound asleep in a minute. I’ve started my “clean mouth” routine to try to prevent a recurrence of last treatment’s sores when my WBC count crashes. I’m hoping I’ll be able to work most of the day tomorrow, leaving early to get my Neulasta shot in the afternoon.
Port installation complete
I finally found a public domain photo of a port-a-cath. As you can see, it’s just a small receptacle that gets implanted under the skin in the upper chest, and the tube gets surgically inserted into the subclavian vein. To administer chemo, or to draw blood, the nurse just needs to locate the port under the skin and poke into it with a special kind of needle. Much faster and easier (and safer) than a traditional IV setup, and since the jugular vein is much larger and carries more blood than the veins in the arms, it’s not as badly affected by the toxicity of the chemo drugs.
The surgery was pretty straightforward. I got some IV anesthesia, and a millisecond later (or so it seemed) I woke up and had a slight ache in my upper left chest. No drowsiness or nausea, I felt pretty much normal. They did a quick X-ray to make sure everything was in place correctly, and sent me home!