Chemo Day 2

Chemo Day 1 was September 3 - it's now October 4. I'm going to try to catch up. I've been keep my CaringBridge journal updated, so my friends and family will know what's going on, but I've been lax in writing here.

Chemo Day 2, September 10, the port worked, with a bit of effort. The nurses discovered if I stood up like the statue of liberty - holding my right arm up into the air - they could draw enough blood out of it. So chemo went as planned. Drugs infused were Gemzar, which took about an hour, then Taxotere, which was about 90 minutes. Flushed the port and unhooked me from the machine.

This was the second week of the 2-week cycle, so I was also scheduled for a Neulasta (pegfilgrastim) injection. According to the official website, "Neulasta® is a prescription medication that can help reduce your risk of infection during strong chemotherapy. It does this by boosting the number of certain infection-fighting white blood cells called neutrophils, which strengthens your immune system." https://www.neulasta.com/what-is-neulasta/

The med is given a day after a chemo treatment, not the same day, so previously patients would have to return to the clinic to have a nurse give the injection. Now there's a take-home patch that would placed on my abdomen when I leave after chemo, and then 27 hours later, the medicine would flow into me. When it was done, I'd hear a beep and a flashing green light on the device would stop flashing and turn solid green. I would peel off the patch and put it into my sharps container. Yes, I now have a sharps container at home. Not something the average person has in her hall closet. :-)

Apparently the on-body injector, as it's called, has only been out for a few months. On chemo day 2, the nurse didn't know how to put the patch onto me. She read through the instructions very carefully twice, then followed each step as she applied it. Took about 15 minutes for this. She wanted to be sure she was doing it right - but slipped up on one thing. It was supposed to point toward the midline, my navel - but she had positioned it to point to the side of my body. She realized that after she'd already put it on, and it can't be repositioned. The charge nurse had her call the company, and they had to get back to her, and so on. Finally they decided the position was ok and started it going.

I went home and the next day, Friday, the Neulasta went off as scheduled. I didn't feel it, just saw the light flashing. After about an hour the light stopped flashing and I removed it. Simple. 

On Saturday we were supposed to go to a Foo Fighters concert about four hours away at an amphitheater in Washington. I'd bought the tickets several months before and didn't want to miss it, so we drove up there. 

Looking back, it was not a good trip. The chemo side effects were beginning to kick in, and I was weak, walking slowly, and uncomfortable. I sat down for most of the concert - fortunately, the hill was steep enough that I could see the stage through some spaces left by the standing people in front of me.

By the time we found our car after the concert in the crowded parking lot and were heading out, I was exhausted and starting to have some problems. One of the main side effects of chemotherapy is constipation - something no one wants to talk about. But oh wow, it can be bad. We made it to our hotel about an hour away and fell onto the hard bed. It was a crappy room, but we both needed the sleep. The Neulasta had started its wicked bone pain, and my hips and legs hurt all night, but lying down was better than being crunched up in the car. 

We finally made it home the next afternoon and I went to bed for the rest of the day. I remember this as one of the bad days. Fatigue and constipation. 

I didn't enjoy the concert as I'd planned way back when I bought the tickets, but I'm glad we went. I wasn't going to let cancer control my life. 

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