Well, the first round of chemo is behind me. One down, five to go.

It went well, I think. As I wrote in my previous post, I didn’t know what to expect and so I didn’t know how to prepare. But now that we’ve gone through this once, I’m going to be a lot more comfortable when I go in the next time (currently scheduled for February 15).

The staff at the GHS Cancer Center are fantastic. They are committed to finding new ways to deal with all aspects of this disease — from pre-treating for side effects to helping navigate the physical and emotional changes the treatments bring.

For example, when my sister was having her chemo 22 years ago, she went into the infusion center, they plugged her up to the IV stand and ran the toxic crap through her veins. Then afterwards, they patted her on her head, gave her an oral anti-nausea drug and sent her home. The results were pain, fatigue, nausea, lethargy, depression…and that was the norm.

In my case, I was given a steroid, Decadron, that I took in two doses the night before chemo to help minimize the nausea. Then when I arrived at the infusion center, they took my vitals (still haven’t lost the damn fluid weight since my surgery…), inserted an IV line in my left forearm and ran a small bag of Pepcid, and another of Decadron to prevent nausea, and finally a small bag of Benedryl to minimize the jumpiness from the steroids and the irritation from the chemo drugs.

Then, it was on to the main event! My chemical cocktail — Taxol and Carboplatin. Not shaken, not stirred.

First is the Taxol. Three to three and a half hours on that IV. Taxol is the one that can cause inflamed veins (thus the Benadryl) so the first couple of treatments they will do a slower drip and monitor me for discomfort. It wasn’t bad.

Next is the Carboplatin, a one-hour dose. This is a platinum-based drug (my FAVORITE metal!!!!) and the biggest issue with this one is nausea within 24 hours of treatment. Good news — I made it past the 24-hour mark!

After my chemo was over, and vitals were checked again, then it was home for a nice snack and a nap. I have been given additional anti-nausea drugs, one of which I take every 12 hours for three days and and two more if I’m feeling “barfy” and need something stronger.

As part of the 21-day “cycle” I will go in around Day 13 for blood tests and again on Day 19 to make sure everything is OK with blood, liver, kidneys, etc. Then, assuming all goes well, will be “Cocktail Hour(s)” again on Day 21 — which for some reason is also Day 1 of round two and dear god, no one told me there would be math on this test!!!!!

So there you have it. Lots of preventative drugs and two that will kill this cancer. Yes, there are side effects. They both will cause my hair to fall out, and while killing cancer cells, both drugs will attack good cells (like white/red blood cells and platelets). Oh, and the Carboplatin messes with my taste buds, too. The biggest change — my beloved DIET COKE doesn’t taste the same. Hair loss I can handle, but DIET COKE???? Where is the fairness???? LOL.

Speaking of hair (am I obsessing?) I made an appointment with my wonderful stylist for next week to get a short haircut — I was advised that it would be less traumatic to go that route than to see long hanks of hair fall out. And I’m all about minimizing trauma.

Heading out to lunch with two of my quilting buddies today and planning to catch up on some client work I neglected this week since my brain was just not into it. Then a nap. Definitely. Day 3 calls for a nap.

Thanks to all the wonderful family and friends who have checked in with us this week. I’m glad so many of you have agreed to follow my journey with this blog and promise to mix up the heavy stuff with the light. Trust me, I’m all about finding the light in all this.