1 of 9 Taxol

I received my new chemo treatment last Tuesday June 21 and I must say it was a lot easier than I expected. 

When I arrived I met with my nurse where she settled me into my lazyboy and began to explain the pre-meds that would be given prior to the actual poison. I was given Decadron, a steroid med to help with a possible allergic reaction as well as nausea and vomitting from the chemo. The 2nd med was Zantac also to help prevent acid reflux and lastly a heavy dose of Benadryl for a possible reaction to the poison. I was informed that the side effect from Benadryl was sleepiness, let me tell you it knocked me out for the entire treatment. 

I guess I expected the worst since my last treatments were pretty hard on me. I was tired when I got home, so I slept it off. No nausea was a first for me and it was great, the metal taste in the mouth was not so bad and the body soreness that I already had has not increased and remained stable. 

I was amazed at how I bounced back so quickly. I was feeling great and energetic and I was happy and relieved that my daughter or husband did not have to see me helpless in a bed for the next 7-10 days, like with the past treatments. 

I hope and pray that the next 8 treatments will be just as easy. 

Another misconception that I had was that I assumed that with chemo comes weight loss, I was wrong. I lost almost 15 pounds from the moment I found the lump in November 2015 to my first treatment in March 2016.  Let me tell you with all the poison and extra meds including steroids, and the forced menopause, the weight has all come back. I guess I will take the weight for now as long as this poison rids me of me cancer. I will worry about the weight loss after I am done with all my treatments. 

Thank you

Franca

Game Plan Change 😔

What a long morning, had my blood test appointment at 945am and passed at almost at 11am and waited until 12pm to see my doctor. It is dreadful sitting in the waiting room full of cancer patients and each chit chatting about their experiences. I sit here and selfishly think why me, but I gues why not me. Cancer has no boundaries and no limits, so we fight everyday to break the boundaries and limits. 

From my last post on my new treatment that landed me in the hospital with excruciating pain and infection, after 3 weeks my legs are still very sore and keep me up most of the night. It was a bitch of a treatment. 

When I finally got to see my oncologist today he was well aware of the hospital stay and all the side effects. He said that I was one of the rare ones with the extreme pain and infection. I was very honest with him and told him it was more than I was able to handle. My body aches so much that I could not imagine what the next 2 treatments would be like. 

Dr. B offered me an alternative, to switch my treatment from Docetaxel to Taxol. The only thing is that with Docetaxel I would have 2 left and I would be done with chemo, with Taxol I will have to do 9 treatments, one per week. My concern was effectiveness and Dr. B assured me that it is as effective, with no pain, no $3000 Neulasta injection which causes even more muscle pain, and that in the end the result is the same, to destroy the cancer cells. My husband and I went back and forth on my options and my decision was to opt for the 9 treatments. So in the end instead of finishing my chemo on July 6, 2016 I will complete it on August 16, 2016. 

As happy as I was to know that I would soon be done with the chemo poison, the thought of having to go through the pain again was terrifying, and it also has a big impact on my family. When I see my daughter come home from school and the first place she looks is my bedroom because I am dead to the world, is not something I can swallow very easily.  No child or spouse should ever have to see their parent that way. 

So with a smile on my face I will endure the next 9 weeks of chemo and I will continue to fight. 

Franca

💞😘

ER Visit.....pain, pain and more pain

On May 25th I had my 4th of 6 chemotherapy treatments.  I went into this new treatment knowing the possible side effects of muscle pain as wel as the added side effects from the Neulasta injection which would increase the amount of muscle pain in the back and lower legs. Well let me tell you, I never thought it would land me in the hospital for 4 days with high fever and excruciating pain.

My Neulasta injection was on Friday May 27, this injection is given to boost my white blood cells after my chemo treatment. When I woke up on Saturday morning I felt like I was hit by a train, my entire body ached with soreness, although it was manageable I only took Tylenol to help ease the pain. I was on the sofa all day and managed to get out a little at night. Sunday was worse, the lower back pain and leg pains were unbearable in the morning, took more tylenols and more tylenols and they were not doing the job. Also, I realized that I had developped thrush in my mouth, this is a build up of yeast caused by medications. My tongue was white and swollen causing a little difficulty to swallow.  By Monday morning I called the oncology clinic and informed them of the pain as well as the thrush and they called in to my pharmacy for antibiotic as well as morphine for the pain. Late Monday afternoon I began to get cold chills and did not think it was something good.  When you are in chemo a temperature of 38.3 is cause for an immediate emergency room visit.  I decided to wait it out for the night and see if it would go away, and of course it did not so off to the ER I went on Tuesday with temperature at 39 when I got to the hospital. 

When I got to the ER they were amazing, I was quickly triaged and placed on a bed to wait for a doctor to see me. The wait was minimal and I was quickly placed in isolation to avoid further risk of infection. At this point the point the pain was so bad that I was asking for pain meds regularly, I was on morphine every 2 hours to help relieve some of the pain.  It was a very scary and difficult time, I was worried about myself, my daughter, my husband who was amazing and going back and forth to take care of Olivia and send her off to school every day. My mom was preparing meals and lunches for Olivia while my husband was by my side in the hospital during the day time, she is a saviour. 

After almost 3 days of fever finally it was gone and the results were a bacteria from my thrush has gotten into my blood stream through my eusophagus.  Crazy shit if you ask me but chemo just burns through everything, therefore there was no protection for the bacteria to stay contained. I am very lucky that they were quick with antibiotic and the constant poking and prodding, thanks for the black and blue arms...but I am back to myself and feeling good again and for that I am eternally greatful. 

My next treatment is June 15 and I pray that I will not go through the same side effects.  So in the meantime I am enjoying my days of feeling good and taking it easy on the not so good days and being greatful for everyday that I wake up and enjoy another day with my family.

Being stuck in a bed for almost 5 days was horrible and thanks to those who sent messages, called and came to visit me. 

Love you all

Franca