Tuesday, May 7, 2024

First Day of Chemo

Thankfully, the first session went without any setbacks. We arrived at the Cancer Center at 12:45 pm having already eaten a decent lunch and taken various and sundry pills and supplements with my oncology nurse's blessing. After a brief conversation (mostly about my anxiety with the process and its side-effects) she set up the IV and started some steroid medication "so my body wouldn't freak out" when the Docataxel eventually started. 

After that was given time to run through my veins, she started the Docataxel in the IV. She told me she was starting it very slowly and stayed there with us to make sure I wasn't having any adverse reactions. I'm grateful that there were none. Satisfied I was okay, she left us in the infusion room to tend to other patients. 60-90 minutes after that, my infusion was done, I was unhooked, and we were free to go. 

Interesting side note: It was rainy and stormy most of the day. At some point after I was all hooked up and stuff was coursing through my veins, my wife's phone got a severe weather warning notification. Then another one. Then we heard someone at the nurse's station listening to a National Weather Service warning and overheard the word "tornado". We looked at each other and wondered if we were going to be ushered into a basement or some windowless maintenance area of the Cancer Center due to an approaching tornado! 

Thankfully, nothing like that came to pass, and I was able to stay put and finish the treatment. 

So, all things considered, the day went pretty well. (Well, that is, for someone with Stage 4 cancer getting a chemotherapy infusion. Don't let any matter-of-fact reporting on this blog lead you to believe that such a nightmare scenario isn't pretty much always on my mind.) I felt pretty tired and somewhat achy after we got home but soon realized that, although I had taken a variety of supplements and pills before we left, I had NOT taken any ibuprofen or acetaminophen. Taking a few ibuprofen at that point seemed to help. At the end of the day (now) I'm not really feeling much differently than I was last night at this time. 

Warnings from both nurses and friends indicate that I might start to feel some of the effects of this chemo in 3 to 7 days. The list of possibilities there is long and ugly. I'll be looking (apprehensively) for changes in how I feel in the days to come. I'll try to document changes here on the blog without going into too much detail about physical issues, especially the gastronomical ones.

Also, starting tomorrow morning, I will begin taking the oral part of the treatment; a med to further decrease testosterone* and some prednisone to keep my body from "freaking out". There are bound to be changes in my body's reaction to that stuff, too. We'll see. 

*Another side note and I'll shut up. I'm already experiencing a half dozen or more hot flashes throughout the day and night (mostly day) from the testosterone-lowering injection that I got a month or so ago. I'm having one as I type. I can't imagine what it's going to be like after a second testosterone-lowering medication enters my system! Our daughter and a good friend who has gone through chemotherapy treatments already have both given me neck fans and, boy, am I making use of them!

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