Saturday, January 5, 2008

The day after - 1st chemo treatment

So far so good. I had a little trouble sleeping but so far stomach cramps and a headache have been the worst things. And I can live with those things! I sat in the doctor's office yesterday (sorry I missed blogging yesterday but I will summarize here) and he said everyone is different and he really doesn't know how this will affect me. He says that its certain that it will give me some fatigue but the amount and how it affects me is an individual thing. I am tired today but its Saturday and I'm supposed to be tired, right? So, I sat down in the chair and had two nurses at my beck and call. Kind cool, huh? I started asking tons of questions about everything they were doing and how it was going to affect me and how long it would take - I'll bet they were glad when I left! One of the nurses went to High School with my husband so that was nice and she also had breast cancer 9 years ago. She was very helpful. I was in the chair about 2 1/2 hours and they had TV on and I brought my journal so the time went by pretty fast. They served me drinks and nabs just in case there was any nausea at first but I had none. They also watched me very close because there was a risk of an allergic reaction. They gave me a huge shot of benadryl in the beginning (for the allergic reaction, I guess) and it made me pretty sleepy but I never did sleep. When I walked in there was a little old lady sitting in the first chair, head back, mouth open and boy, was she snoring or what? I decided that I really didn't want to be seen like that. I think that's why I never did go to sleep.
So it was over and we left and went to get the nausea medicine prescription filled because Doc told me to take one when I went to bed the first night - just in case. Some of the nausea medicine cost $30 a tab (incredible, huh?) but thankfully we have good insurance! Thank God for good insurance. But I digress. Came home and laid down on the couch. Not because I needed to but just because I wanted to. Watched soaps all afternoon - kinda nice. I am having trouble walking by mirrors - as some of you know I am VERY VAIN so now that my hair is very short (I kind of look like a boy or a gay woman - you decide) I am having a little difficulty with it. But it won't last long. Doc says that even if all doesn't fall out that it will thin and spot bald to the point that most women just shave it off. That will be one cool party! I think Brandon, Tom and I will shave designs or maybe I'll do a mohawk for a little while. I go wig shopping next weekend because the hair will beging to fall out within 2-3 weeks (probably by the time I go for my next treatment). I'm sorry if I repeat myself on some things. Its bound to happen and now I can blame my bad memory on something called "chemobrain" - cool, huh?
So there it is. Hopefully my PMA (positive mental attitude) will keep the pukies at bay and maybe I won't be too tired either. I am going to get up now and get started on some things around the house. We'll see how it goes.
Hey thanks for all the positive thoughts! And thanks for reading my ramblings!

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