My First Chemo Treatment - Not that bad

On Tuesday April 2nd, I had my first of 8 chemotherapy treatments. My husband accompanied me to the 2 hour long session because we were told that we would be given a lot of information during the first session so he wanted to make sure he didn't miss anything.

Arriving for Chemo

Upon entering the infusion room I noticed that it resembled a strange kind of spa. There was a water cooler, a table set up with coffee, tea, and pastries. There was a semi-circle reception desk in the center of a large room which seemed to curve around the desk. Along the outside of the curved room were smaller 'stalls' with a wall between each.  In each stall was a recliner, 2 upright chairs like you might find in a doctors waiting area, a small end table, and a 24in LCD TV.  Between each of the stalls was a private bathroom with a door to each stall.  The nurses sat at the semi-circle desk watching vitals and keeping an eye on all the stalls' inhabitants. What I noticed most was that the room behind the desk, where I would be looking, was a very pale purple, one of my favorite colors, and seemed soft and warm. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

The nurse escorted me to my private stall and told me to get comfortable in the recliner. She offered me a blanket and a pillow. The recliner was somewhat hard so I took the pillow but declined the blanket because it was nice and warm in the room.  Rory sat on the waiting room chair right next to me. The nurse continued to tell me about what she was about to do.

Preparing the Mediport

The first thing they did was numb my mediport. She did this by spraying this weird substance on my skin where the mediport is for 10 seconds. If you have ever used a liquid wart remover that froze the wart with liquid nitrogen, you probably know what this stuff feels like. It basically froze the mediport. My job was to say when it hurt too bad to take the pain.  I lasted about 10 seconds which is exactly how long the instructions say to spray it for.   The next step would be to tap a needle into my mediport so I am glad I made it the whole 10 seconds.

Before we go on, let me just remind you that I hate my mediport.  I lie in bed in night and feel it throbbing. Other friends of mine who are cancer survivors tell me how much they loved their mediports. I do not have this type of relationship.  I would take a needle in my arm 10 times over tapping my mediport once. I swear they installed it on a nerve, or used a nerve to tie it into place.  I don't know if that is possible, but if it is, that's what they did.

To tap my mediport, the nurse basically puts what looks like a fat thumb tack into my mediport which is right below the skin.  The thumb tack connects via tubing to an entry way, all medicines can either be screwed into the entry way as in the case of IV drugs, or a syringe can puncture the entry way for smaller dose medicines. Luckily for me it was mostly numb from the liquid nitrogen (or whatever that stuff was) but I still felt it.  They cut off my boobs (twice), took 1/4 of my stomach off, and yanked my lymphatic system out of my armpits and I was good. But heaven help you if you touch my mediport... I am likely to hit to ceiling. That is by far my most sensitive place. Apparently the liquid nitrogen numbing agent is optional. That is an option I will never pass up.

My mediport after it was tapped

Once my mediport was connected to the tubing, I was ready to begin.


Step 1 - Emend, an Anti Nausea

The first drug to be administered via my mediport was Emend which is an anti-nausea medicine. They gave that to me first because the real chemo drugs were about 100% likely to make me nauseas.  It was imperative that I not vomit, or at least keep it to a minimum. If I got dehydrated I would have to come back for fluids or possibly be admitted to the hospital. 

 Step 2 - Decadron - another anti-nausea

The second drug they pushed into my mediport was Decadron, a steroidal anti-nausea medicine. I asked the nurse why I needed 2 different anti-nausea medicines at the same time. She told me each one gets rid of nausea by blocking a different neurotransmitter. It would turn out that I really needed this and then some.

Step 3 - Aloxi - yet another anti-nausea

The third drug was a third and final anti-nausea medication. Aloxi is yet another anti-nausea drug which blocks the actions of specific neurotransmitters. What is the difference between these 3? I have no idea, all I know is none of them worked very well.

Step 4 - Some fluids...

After these 3 anti-nausea medications, the nurse put me on some NaCl (saline) just to keep my hydrated.

Step 5 - Cytoxan

The Cytoxan was the first of two of the real chemo drugs. The Cytoxan was a small envelope of medicine that was connected to my mediport and let to drip for about 20 minutes.

Step 6 - Red Devil

The last chemo drug I received was the Adriamycin. The nurse told me that they call this drug the red devil.  If you saw the needle you would know why. First of all, it's terrifying. At this moment I actually thanked God for my mediport.  Secondly, this is the drug that causes all the havoc.  Adriamycin is what causes the nausea. It is also what will eventually claim my hair. I decided then that I hated Adriamycin. Even now writing this, just seeing the word makes me nauseas.

Adriamycin - The Red Devil

 
Step 7 - Rehydrate

The last step of chemotherapy was hydration. It was important that these drugs moved through my body quickly and didn't stay in one place too long.  For this, I needed to remain very well hydrated. Before I left, I had to receive 100 mL of saline to stay hydrated and push the medicines through.  At this point I understood why I needed the blanket. They don't warm up these fluids before they put them into you. I had what felt like ice cold water pulsing through my veins. It didn't take long before I was completely freezing.  Thank you for the blankie!

When I was all pumped up with fluids, I felt better than OK. I was cold, but I felt great! It felt amazing to have them remove the tap from the mediport and I was full of energy (probably the steroids). I went home and ate a great dinner, worked on my business, cleaned the house, and still had some energy to spare. Overall, it was comfortable, not painful, and not really a negative experience.

Day 2 - Neulasta

Within 24 hours of receiving chemotherapy, a follow up shot is given of Neulasta. The Neulasta sends your white blood cells into overdrive. Even if you never knew anyone with cancer, I am sure you heard that cancer patients are very vulnerable to sickness because they are immunosuppressed.  The Neulasta helps prevent the immunosuppression by telling your body to make up to 10x its normal white blood count.  This will make your body feel like you have a cold or the flu, so achiness, soreness, and fever are likely. The white blood cells are made in your bone marrow, so bone pain is likely.

The Neulasta is not administered through the mediport, it is given as a prick in the arm in the upper bicep. If they were looking for muscle there they were going to be disappointed.  Any muscle tone I once had dissolved with a month recovery at home.

I went back on Wednesday April 3rd for my Neulasta shot expecting to have flu-like symptoms by the end of the day. Much to my surprise, I never got the flu-like symptoms.

Day 3 - The shit starts

My 2 days of receiving chemo were both positive experiences. I was convinced that I was blessed and was going to miss the bulk of the scary side effects. For the most part, I was right. I never got bone pain, I never got flu-like symptoms. I was told to expect a bad, metallic taste in my mouth... I never got that. I was told I might puke... that never happened (unfortunately).  You might say that I lucked out.. I only really got one side effect - NAUSEA.