Well I got through it! Thats not to say what the next week and half will bring but I'm trying to stay hopeful that last night was the worst. First of all I didn't have Port implanted (because i hate the idea of something being inside my chest AND another scar on my chest) BUT I'm going to get a Picc line before my next treatment which basically will live on my arm. Its like a more permanent IV that like a port goes to your main artery so as to protect the smaller veins in your arm (which mine are good to begin with so i don't NEED this for that reason)
I do however need it for a whole different reason. My first drug aka ADRIA is a really nasty drug and if for whatever reason the IV without a picc is inserted incorrectly or comes out during treatment this drugs comes out of my veins it can actually kill the tissue in that area in your arm. I haven't seen this but i would imagine its quite scary. So after insisting on a Picc before even my first treatment they couldn't schedule one fast enough (kinda bogus) so they did i through my veins.
Insurting it HURT like a mother but once it was in i felt ok. (its quite longer then any other needle i've had crammed in my arm and I've had IVs before) then they give you fluids to hydrate you and test the blood return to see that the IV is still good. Then they give you drugs through syringes that they push the drug in with slowly. First i had an anti nausea (in addition to taking a pill) and then a steroid to help with nausea (I'm thrilled about the steroid part :/ ) but hey if it keeps me from barfing... haha. then they start to push the ADRIA which is red and looks like cherry jello no joke. they go slowly and check for blood return to make sure the IV is still good because this drug is incredibly dangerous. After my first syringe my arm started to RASH of course and of course the nurses FREAK out although I told them this would happen. My arm did this with morphine the first time I had it through an IV as well so I was not surprised. They had to stop and page my poor doctor who wasn't there that day and then the NP came to check on me. They had to grab a syringe of benadryl and push it though my IV to see if the rash would go away (ice cold right outa the fridge brrrrrrrrrr) but sure enough it went away and stopped itching :) Then we were on to more poison infusion!!! You can see in the picture how the rash is right alone my vein (aka where the drug went in) my mom said to take the picture for insurance purposes hahaha.. she was only partially joking I think.
Everything continued just fine, and my treatment was ended. After the syringes they hook me up to a cytoxan drip that doesn't require them sitting and pushing the drug into my IV so i decided to snack on some cookies :) and after treatment i was feelin good, only took a vicoden for the tumor pain and was off. Even ate a sandwhich right after (only half because i know my limits) but i felt totally fine.
UNTIL I GOT IN THE CAR which makes me carsick anyway if im not driving.. but unfortunately after chemo I cant drive. X joi X anyway we were stuck in traffic for 2.5 hours which also did not help and i only threw up in my mouth a little but it was a struggle for sure. After that horrible madness I plopped on the couch and felt ok again now that I could be still. I even ate some spagedios and cheez its and was welling GOOD but this one drug i took in the car called compazine made my heart start to race which brought the nausea back in a title wave and i was again paralyzed on the couch. Poor Zoey did not understand what was happening and kept sniffing me and trying to jump up with me (but she's not allowed on the leather couch) poor girl :/ Then it was 9pm and time to take this wonderful drug called ADAVAN which took the nausea away as soon as it kicked in! and i could sit up, stand up, even walk around it was awesome. I had more spagedios and then started to feel heavy so I knew it was time for bed. Went to bed with Zoey and sleep really well all things considered. I woke up a few times to pee because i've been chugging water like a fish, but the only one to get sick this morning was Zoey! hahaha... i think she ate too big pieces of bone and barfed them up on my floor this morning. -- poor girl I know the feeling.
Anyway! it could be better but it could be far worse... I'm really grateful for all of the anti nausea drugs they have for us now. Apparently they "don't tolerate vomiting" so thats good! haha because neither do I. :D
As for my poor hairs It is expected I start loosing them in 14 days (so right before my second treatment -- Halloween!) perrrrfect timing for me to wear my pink wig :D I'm kinda freaked out to shave my head but at the same time I don't want to watch my hair fall out in clumps OR clean up up from my pillow/shower. My little brother told me he is going to shave his head when I do AND keep it bald the whole time I'm bald. I say we'll see how he feels when its the dead of winter and he has no hair.. he might rethink that offer! It's about that time to take more drugs! and clean up Zoey's barf hopefully I don't add to it in the process :D stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment