Showing posts with label oncologist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oncologist. Show all posts
First Chemo!
So everyone is asking me how I'm doing since my first chemo treatment and the answer is so far so good! My chemo was Wed and after an hour wait in the waiting room and an argument over co-pays, we finally got in to see the doc. Well, actually the docs assistant because he was out last week. She prescribed me two anti-nausea drugs, Compazine to try first and if after I take that and if I'm still sick, to take Zofran.
Then I walked to the back and picked a recliner to sit in. A nurse came over, accessed my port by sticking a tack looking needle in it and proceeded to give me an IV of saline and premeds including a heavy dose of Zofran. West sat with me and held my hand as they did the needle and premeds but I was disappointed when they told me he couldn't stay for the two hours because it was a HIPPA voilation :( but he was allowed to check on me as often as he wanted so he went back and forth from the lobby.
The first drug they gave me, they told me straight out they call it the Red Devil. It's actually called Adriamycin but its known as the red devil because it causes all the side effects: hair loss, vomiting, fatigue, and general crappy feeling. That lasted about 45 minutes in an IV drip and then they gave me something called Cytoxin which lasted another 45 minutes. According to Livestrong.com:
Adriamycin is an anti-tumor drug that attacks the part of a cancer cell responsible for synthesizing RNA and DNA, according to Chemocare.com. Cytoxan is an alkylating agent, and as such works by breaking DNA strands while the cancer cell is in its resting phase before cell division, according to the Core Curriculum for Oncology Nursing.
I felt nothing different during the infusions...and after it was over West and I went to Subway and I ate an entire meatball sandwich lol I hung out the rest of the afternoon with Momo because I was afraid of being alone and violently throwing up but I felt fine Wed night, felt fine Thursday and now today, today I felt just ok. I woke up fine but West helped me take a shower and after the shower, ugh it felt like I ran a marathon and I slept for two hours after. The rest of the day today I just watched West play video games, settled in front of the TV and just took it easy but I can't say the tiredness is any different than the way I felt during radiation nights...
Tomorrow will be the test. My Aunt went through chemo for ovarian cancer and the third day was the worst for her, thats when it really hit her, so we'll see how I feel tomorrow!
Then I walked to the back and picked a recliner to sit in. A nurse came over, accessed my port by sticking a tack looking needle in it and proceeded to give me an IV of saline and premeds including a heavy dose of Zofran. West sat with me and held my hand as they did the needle and premeds but I was disappointed when they told me he couldn't stay for the two hours because it was a HIPPA voilation :( but he was allowed to check on me as often as he wanted so he went back and forth from the lobby.
The first drug they gave me, they told me straight out they call it the Red Devil. It's actually called Adriamycin but its known as the red devil because it causes all the side effects: hair loss, vomiting, fatigue, and general crappy feeling. That lasted about 45 minutes in an IV drip and then they gave me something called Cytoxin which lasted another 45 minutes. According to Livestrong.com:
Adriamycin is an anti-tumor drug that attacks the part of a cancer cell responsible for synthesizing RNA and DNA, according to Chemocare.com. Cytoxan is an alkylating agent, and as such works by breaking DNA strands while the cancer cell is in its resting phase before cell division, according to the Core Curriculum for Oncology Nursing.
I felt nothing different during the infusions...and after it was over West and I went to Subway and I ate an entire meatball sandwich lol I hung out the rest of the afternoon with Momo because I was afraid of being alone and violently throwing up but I felt fine Wed night, felt fine Thursday and now today, today I felt just ok. I woke up fine but West helped me take a shower and after the shower, ugh it felt like I ran a marathon and I slept for two hours after. The rest of the day today I just watched West play video games, settled in front of the TV and just took it easy but I can't say the tiredness is any different than the way I felt during radiation nights...
Tomorrow will be the test. My Aunt went through chemo for ovarian cancer and the third day was the worst for her, thats when it really hit her, so we'll see how I feel tomorrow!
Last day of radiation!!
So just a quick note today. Today is my last radiation treatment! I would be more excited but I've been kinda feeling like crap yesterday and today. Today is not so bad, did take a lot to get out of bed this morning and even more to choke down oatmeal but I have to remind myself that I should be thankful I can get put of bed, that I can make myself breakfast.. As there are many worse off than myself!
So as much as I can, I'm going to celebrate my completion of radiation and look forward to my sore throat healing and the fatigue going away. My radiation tech said that radiation works in your body two weeks after the last treatment so it could be awhile until my throat feels normal.
Now my celebration is short lived because tomorrow at 930 is my first chemo dose. I'll go in and spend 15 min with the doc and doing bloodwork to make sure my white count is healthy enough, then they will give me about a half an hour of iv premeds for nausea etc and then it's two hours of the actual chemo. West is being a trooper and sitting with me and then when he goes to work I'm going to hang out with momo bc I'm just not sure what the chemo is going to do so I didn't want to be alone. All in all the chemo should last 3 hours so I should be home by 1.
In other news I saw dr lee yesterday who said my wound on my neck is healing slowly but should start to close after radiation. He also said I've got 6 more weeks in the god awful brace and that's if the radiation didn't slow down the healing but he doesn't want to do X-rays for a few more weeks. I go back and see him on the 23rd.
In other news I don't think I mentioned in any of my posts that I've lost 37lbs with all of this. Now trust me I had the pounds to lose but I don't recommend doing it in this fashion. The problem is, between my sore throat and all of my meds/radiation upsetting my stomach, I have zero appetite. I've been taking nausea meds but they just settle your stomach, they don't make you hungry. I'm drinking ensure, taking a multivitamin and trying to choke down breakfast at least so I can take my meds but if anyone has any ideas to stimulate appetite I'd like to hear them. I feel like I have the stomach flu and the sight of food makes me want to throw up...
Well off to my final radiation! I hope the side effects this afternoon are better than yesterday bc yesterday I came home and pretty much napped from 3pm on...
So as much as I can, I'm going to celebrate my completion of radiation and look forward to my sore throat healing and the fatigue going away. My radiation tech said that radiation works in your body two weeks after the last treatment so it could be awhile until my throat feels normal.
Now my celebration is short lived because tomorrow at 930 is my first chemo dose. I'll go in and spend 15 min with the doc and doing bloodwork to make sure my white count is healthy enough, then they will give me about a half an hour of iv premeds for nausea etc and then it's two hours of the actual chemo. West is being a trooper and sitting with me and then when he goes to work I'm going to hang out with momo bc I'm just not sure what the chemo is going to do so I didn't want to be alone. All in all the chemo should last 3 hours so I should be home by 1.
In other news I saw dr lee yesterday who said my wound on my neck is healing slowly but should start to close after radiation. He also said I've got 6 more weeks in the god awful brace and that's if the radiation didn't slow down the healing but he doesn't want to do X-rays for a few more weeks. I go back and see him on the 23rd.
In other news I don't think I mentioned in any of my posts that I've lost 37lbs with all of this. Now trust me I had the pounds to lose but I don't recommend doing it in this fashion. The problem is, between my sore throat and all of my meds/radiation upsetting my stomach, I have zero appetite. I've been taking nausea meds but they just settle your stomach, they don't make you hungry. I'm drinking ensure, taking a multivitamin and trying to choke down breakfast at least so I can take my meds but if anyone has any ideas to stimulate appetite I'd like to hear them. I feel like I have the stomach flu and the sight of food makes me want to throw up...
Well off to my final radiation! I hope the side effects this afternoon are better than yesterday bc yesterday I came home and pretty much napped from 3pm on...
First radiation treatment!
First day of radiation! Piece of cake. My appointment was at 1 and I was home by 2:30. Didn't feel a thing just had to hold extremely still. They put you on a table and make a 3D image map of your body in the computer and then digitally pin point the radiation to the centimeter. If you move, even a little bit, they have to restart the whole process. It takes longer to get you all lined up on the table in the exact same spot as the day before than it does to actually put the radiation into your body.
I wont say the process isn't a little intimidating. The radiation room smells funny, like chemicals and the big vault like door on the outside with the big yellow radiation warning label isnt comforting but it truly is painless. Its more of a mind thing for me. I know its life saving radiation, but its also poison in a way and if you think about that as these lasers pass over you, it can really mess with your mind lol I'll have to work on imagining it as medicine instead of things that are destroying my cells.
When I get home I just felt the need to drink a ton of water like I needed to flush it all out, and ate a good lunch like I imagine the tiny warriors in my body need energy to rebuild the cells...well 1 treatment down, 14 to go...
In other news, West and I went on a date night. We went to see Immortals in 3D and I successfully made it in public in the suit of armor, sat in a movie chair and even used a public restroom without getting stuck....ahhh the small victories in life :)
I wont say the process isn't a little intimidating. The radiation room smells funny, like chemicals and the big vault like door on the outside with the big yellow radiation warning label isnt comforting but it truly is painless. Its more of a mind thing for me. I know its life saving radiation, but its also poison in a way and if you think about that as these lasers pass over you, it can really mess with your mind lol I'll have to work on imagining it as medicine instead of things that are destroying my cells.
When I get home I just felt the need to drink a ton of water like I needed to flush it all out, and ate a good lunch like I imagine the tiny warriors in my body need energy to rebuild the cells...well 1 treatment down, 14 to go...
In other news, West and I went on a date night. We went to see Immortals in 3D and I successfully made it in public in the suit of armor, sat in a movie chair and even used a public restroom without getting stuck....ahhh the small victories in life :)
Setting up for radiation!
Hello world! :) Day 3 at home and I'm feeling pretty accomplished! I have a doctors appointment every day this week which means getting up and getting for the world each day. I have succumb to the fact that for the next 8 weeks I will be living in skirts. I hate skirts. *sigh* but this stupid brace covers my pants line which means if I wear jeans, button them, get into my suit of armor on theres no way to unbutton the jeans to go to the bathroom. I tried yoga pants and on special days, when I just cant find the stomach to wear another skirt, I suppose they'll work but it takes ten minutes to get back under the brace at the right pants line so they don't fall off my ass :)
I'm so thankful for so many things right now. Today mom and momo took me to payless to buy some flats. Here in Vegas, in the 100 degree plus heat I've been living in flip flops and what a difference a few months in the hospital makes because now I'm out and about I am the crazy girl wearing skirts and flip flops in Vegas winter (not that its cold lol but you still get weird looks) and my love for heels has back fired. I discovered I didn't have a single pair of closed toed flats!! My momo Betty Stafford bought me three pairs of beautiful shoes that I can actually walk in ♥.
After that we went to Fashion Bug where mom (@Kim Fletcher) bought me a new skirt and THEN we went to SuperCuts and got my hair cut. I don't want to post pics yet because I think I can style it better than the hairdresser did but its an a line bob really short in the back and long in the front. Pics coming soon!
Did I mention this was all done after two doctor appointments? I got marked for radiation today. The people were so nice and gentle. The appointment was easy, I just laid on a cat scan table while they took pics and they marked my body for the machine with a sharpie and covered the marks with waterproof stickers. There was one semi-tattoo mark that they stabbed me in the chest with a needle but that was it. My first radiation treatment is tomorrow at 1. They are radiating from the top of my neck to the middle of my shoulder blades not only to prevent the tumor from coming back but also because they couldn't find clean bone in my hip to replace in my neck bone so they want to kill the cancer in the new bone graphs. I will go to radiation every day for 3 weeks. The side effects will include fatigue, sunburn, sore throat, and of course ya know, poisoning my body lol but the cancer won't come back in that spot and thats all that matters. I'm prepared to fight! I am a little discouraged it might slow down my voice coming back - which it still hasn't done yet but I'm trying to be patient.
After the markings we went to another office to consult with the radio-oncologist himself. My mom and momo had never met him and we had questions about radiation, nutrition, side effects, prognosis, etc. Dr. Dean spent 45 min with us and answered every question and every side effect and was matter a fact. The last time I talked to this man I was extremely depressed at his attitude. I was emotional and alone in the hospital room and he came off to me as if he was there to tell me that statistics are I have two years to live and his job is to make me comfortable and prevent bone tumors in what little time I have left. That his job wasnt to save my life just make it more comfortable. I was devastated. Today he re-explained. He said what he meant was that radiation can't cure cancer. His job can't save my life. His job is to get in there, stabilize the horrible things the cancer has already done and then get the hell out of the way so that the chemo doc, the guy that can save my life, can get in there and do its job and softly said he was there to remind us that the statistics are metastatic breast cancer patients have a two year life span, thats the rule but there are plenty exceptions...but as a doctor he has to state the rules, not the exceptions blah blah. Realistic but....
Anyway for 3 days out of the hospital I feel like things are quickly going toward normal....and I'll report on my first day of radiation tomorrow! ♥
I'm so thankful for so many things right now. Today mom and momo took me to payless to buy some flats. Here in Vegas, in the 100 degree plus heat I've been living in flip flops and what a difference a few months in the hospital makes because now I'm out and about I am the crazy girl wearing skirts and flip flops in Vegas winter (not that its cold lol but you still get weird looks) and my love for heels has back fired. I discovered I didn't have a single pair of closed toed flats!! My momo Betty Stafford bought me three pairs of beautiful shoes that I can actually walk in ♥.
After that we went to Fashion Bug where mom (@Kim Fletcher) bought me a new skirt and THEN we went to SuperCuts and got my hair cut. I don't want to post pics yet because I think I can style it better than the hairdresser did but its an a line bob really short in the back and long in the front. Pics coming soon!
Did I mention this was all done after two doctor appointments? I got marked for radiation today. The people were so nice and gentle. The appointment was easy, I just laid on a cat scan table while they took pics and they marked my body for the machine with a sharpie and covered the marks with waterproof stickers. There was one semi-tattoo mark that they stabbed me in the chest with a needle but that was it. My first radiation treatment is tomorrow at 1. They are radiating from the top of my neck to the middle of my shoulder blades not only to prevent the tumor from coming back but also because they couldn't find clean bone in my hip to replace in my neck bone so they want to kill the cancer in the new bone graphs. I will go to radiation every day for 3 weeks. The side effects will include fatigue, sunburn, sore throat, and of course ya know, poisoning my body lol but the cancer won't come back in that spot and thats all that matters. I'm prepared to fight! I am a little discouraged it might slow down my voice coming back - which it still hasn't done yet but I'm trying to be patient.
After the markings we went to another office to consult with the radio-oncologist himself. My mom and momo had never met him and we had questions about radiation, nutrition, side effects, prognosis, etc. Dr. Dean spent 45 min with us and answered every question and every side effect and was matter a fact. The last time I talked to this man I was extremely depressed at his attitude. I was emotional and alone in the hospital room and he came off to me as if he was there to tell me that statistics are I have two years to live and his job is to make me comfortable and prevent bone tumors in what little time I have left. That his job wasnt to save my life just make it more comfortable. I was devastated. Today he re-explained. He said what he meant was that radiation can't cure cancer. His job can't save my life. His job is to get in there, stabilize the horrible things the cancer has already done and then get the hell out of the way so that the chemo doc, the guy that can save my life, can get in there and do its job and softly said he was there to remind us that the statistics are metastatic breast cancer patients have a two year life span, thats the rule but there are plenty exceptions...but as a doctor he has to state the rules, not the exceptions blah blah. Realistic but....
Anyway for 3 days out of the hospital I feel like things are quickly going toward normal....and I'll report on my first day of radiation tomorrow! ♥
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