Today’s Chemo treatment went about as smoothly as we could have possibly hoped. And at the time of writing this – about 8:30pm and about 4 hours after the last chemo drug went in – I am still feeling pretty okay. Hoping this continues!

Here’s a recap of the day and the procedure:

 

APPOINTMENT & PREP

We were scheduled to start at 1pm so they advised to get there around fifteen minutes early. Just because of the type of person I am, I left the house at Noon. I’m glad we left early, because we came upon a big accident at the intersection of Breckenridge & Dutchmans Lane. Everyone knows that’s already the longest light in Louisville, and we had to wait a few cycles as police were attempting to manually direct traffic. We ended up getting to the office shortly after 12:30pm.

They took me back very quickly to get my vitals, including weight and blood pressure. Weight is consistent. But my blood pressure was high, I think for the first time in my life. I will chalk it up to being nervous. It wasn’t alarmingly high – just 126/89. They were a bit concerned about the bottom number, but not enough to consider withholding chemo.

 

Lucky Room #13

They took us back to our Chemo Room…  Lucky #13!  The room is private, just big enough to me, Luis and a nurse or two. I really like the fact that we have a private room. All of the online research I had done indicated we would be in a big open chemo café. Given the choice, I’m quite glad we have a private room.

The room included a couple chairs on either side of one of the most ridiculous machines I’ve seen yet! It’s a machine meant for women that is designed for them to help them keep their hair. The way that it works is they put this big rubber burqa looking contraption on your head which gets down to freezing temperature!  It looks ridiculous, and apparently it’s not very comfortable or even effective!

Of course I can’t imagine anyone feeling very comfortable with a big rubber toboggan that’s freezing on your head for a couple hours!  Plus, the nurse said most patients still lose something like 50% of their hair, so it get so thin despite the preventative treatment that most shave and wig anyways.

I’ll definitely snap a better photo of this next time, but you can see it in the background if you skip down a few sections to a photo of us playing Chess.

 

Blood Work & Clinical Trial

They hooked up my IV, which actually stung quite a bit. I’ve probably had blood drawn or hooked up to an IV two dozen times or more in the past few weeks, so my arms are a wreck. That must be why it stung so much and for so long this time.  They had to take a LOT of blood, for two reasons:

• They have to test my blood before administering chemo for every treatment, to make sure my body is reacting appropriately to the chemo. They check to make sure the counts of my white blood cells and platelets are healthy enough to continue. There was no worry this time, since I had not previously received a chemo treatment; but it will become more important in subsequent treatments.
• I am voluntarily taking part in a clinical trial. My trial is strictly observational; they aren’t testing anything new on me. They are simply sharing my medical reports with Bristol Myers and monitoring my progress. This requires them to take three or four additional vials of blood every trip to the oncologist’s office. I’m hoping that future blood draws aren’t quite as stingy as today; but even if they are, I hope my participation in the trial helps many in the future, even if just in a small way.

After the blood was all drawn, they began circulating saline solution and the stingy pain went away for the most part, and the remainder of the procedures was pain free all the way until the end.

 

Pre-Chemo Drugs

Next, the nurse administered two sets of “Pre-Chemo” drugs. Each was via IV drip and each took about 20 minutes from start to finish.

The first pre-chemo drug was an anti-nausea medication that will stay in my system for about 48 hours. I am really rooting for this one to be effecting, because I hate being nauseas! Not that anyone likes it.

The second pre-chemo drug was a steroids concoction. I assume this is to fight off fatigue and other possible side effects.

They also gave me two Tylenol tablets. I have been a serial Tylenol abuser my entire life; I couldn’t remember the last time I had taken less than four. But, I kept my mouth shut about that.

After these were complete, it was on to the actual task of killing cancer with ABVD.

 

ABVD

The big event! The cancer killing drugs! And also, the ones which may cause my the bad side effects and adversely affect my thick, full head of hair.

The first three drugs were all administered by the nurse injecting them into my IV using a syringe. Each took less than five minutes.

Find out what the letters mean in this previous blog post.

First up was the “A” drug. It’s the bright red one, and came in the largest syringe. This is the one which makes me pee red, and sure enough, as took a pee after the chemo was all over, and the toiler water was a bright pink! I’m really glad they warned me about that side effect; otherwise, I would have freaked out thinking I was urinating blood.

Next up was the “B” drug. I was a bit nervous about this one. Prior to the chemo starting, the head nurse asked my attending nurse if she was sure she game me Tylenol beforehand, because the last time someone forgot to give Tylenol the patient immediately spiked a 107 degree fever!! Of course, I’m thinking… this is NOT comforting!! Please tell these stories where I can’t hear them!  But for me, this was all no big deal – so far, no fever, no side effects. This drug was clear and only took a couple minutes.

The last syringe drug was the “V” drug. This looked just like the “B” drug, and since the administration was fast and uneventful, was all the same to me.

The final chemo drug was the “D” drug and this was administered via IV drip. It took 60 minutes from start to finish for this drug to go in. Again, it was pretty simple – all I had to do was sit there.

After they gave me the “D” they flushed me out with five minutes of saline drip and we were off!

 

Passing the Time

We were in the office for about five hours from start to finish – two hours longer than the original three hour estimate.  They said that future treatments would go faster – but I’m not really sure what they could speed up. There really wasn’t a lot of waiting time; they took us back fast and moved through the sequence just about as quickly as they could. So I’m predicting (at least for trying to schedule my work) that future treatments will probably take between 4-5 hours each.

Facebook Live – I started a FB Live video at the start of my fourth drug (the “D”). Mostly because that was the first time Luis and I were left alone in the room for an extended period. That was my first Live video, so I was mostly figuring it out and I hadn’t thought about a lot to say – so it was less than three minutes! But I know a lot of people are thinking about me today, so I wanted to give a real time update of my taking chemo like a champ and kicking cancer’s ass in progress! I wasn’t trying to depress anyone (I thought mid-stream that, hmm, this may come across as very depressing to folks). I might go again during the next appointment… I loved getting all the encouraging likes and comments during the video. 🙂

Luis and I played some Chess & Checkers throughout the process as well.  Luis is just learning both games, so it wasn’t really a fair fight. I wish he liked playing Chess as much as I do! Maybe he’ll warm up to it during treatment.

We also received an unexpected care package. Apparently, Simpsonville Baptist Church puts together care packages for cancer patients. The packages include some flavored candy (chemo can leave a bad taste in your mouth, although I did not experience this), crossword puzzle, herbal tea (anti-nausea recipe) and hand sanitizer. I think it’s just delightful that they do this – that there’s a group of thoughtful, selfless folks out there that think of things to make life easier for people they don’t know – and that they add people like me to their regular prayer list. I find it all very inspiring!

 

At Home

Now at home, and its 9:15pm and I’m not feeling any negative side effects, I don’t think. I’m a little tired and I have some indigestion – but it’s been an emotional day, and I also chose to eat Qdoba’s 3-cheese nachos for dinner after chemo. That meal frequently gives me indigestion anyway, so I’m not sure I can blame my current tummy issues on the chemo. Next time, I’ll pick a more appropriate meal!

Luis has to run off to a work thing after my treatment, so Mom & Ashley came over and sat with me for a few hours. They gave the bathrooms and kitchen a good deep clean and also brought over some Lysol, a weekly pill-box to keep track of my medicines, and a bunch of tooth brushes & cases. Mom said I should change my tooth brush every week. Probably a good idea to go ahead and start tonight; I am not quite sure the last time I changed my toothbrush. Embarrassed.

We also played Jenga, Chess & Checkers. I was the loser at Jenga, tied at Checkers, and won a tough game of Chess with Ashley. I have to mention that playing Jenga with Mom is quite a sight! She just cannot take the anxiety that comes with knowing the tower may fall at any time. I thought she was going to pass out a couple times, and she did have to leave the room at least once!! Hahahaah.  One thing I really have enjoyed during this ordeal is playing games with family.

I have three prescription anti-nausea medications at the ready. There’s one that I big taking tomorrow preventatively, no matter how I feel. Then then I also have two others which I can take if I am feeling nauseas. One of those two is the same that they pumped me with today, so I can’t use that until Day 3. One is Phenergan and the other is Zofran; I can’t remember top of head which is which, but I have a helpful sheet.  Hopefully, I won’t have to use them because I’ll be feeling great!

 

Next Appointments

Barring any setbacks, my next appointment is my next chemo session. They’ve scheduled my next two:

Tuesday, January 24 @ 9:30am – I took the morning slot, hoping that I can do a bit more work on the day… Even if it takes 5 hours again, I can get knock out a couple hours of morning work and do some afternoon/evening work as well. Most of my colleagues are west coast, so working into the evening can still be very productive for me.

Tuesday, February 7 @ 10:30am – Odd time slot in the middle of the day, but this treatment includes a consultation with Dr. Stevens, so this was the time they had available. The consult shouldn’t take longer than just a few minutes, and chemo starts immediately after. This is also my sister Ashley’s birthday – happy birthday, Ashley! The party is in the chemo room.

 

Thank you!

Thanks again to EVERYONE who makes a point to reach out to me so often. It never gets old, and it really does help keep me strong knowing that there are so many people that care! I loved the likes and support on the very short Facebook Live video, which can still be found on my Facebook.  I love all the texts I got last night and this morning, and the calls, the emails, the Get Well cards.

I love you all so very much and really am thankful to have you supporting Luis and I through this!

I’ll update again tomorrow – hopefully to let everyone know that I’m still feeling 100.

 

Much Love,

Merv