Step 4a: The first of 6 Chemo treatments...but first let me tell you about Glenda..

Well, its day 2 post-chemo. I really wanted to post yesterday but while the mind was almost there the body was certainly not.

When they tell you Chemo doesn't hurt they are right. If you discount getting the IV put in that is...which is only nasty if you look I find. And I don't look so its not so bad. And you know you're far gone when you have port envy LOL I was busy admiring everyone else's port, including my friend Glenda who came to visit with Lyle and I while I was getting my chemo. Anyway, you only get a port if your veins aren't good apparently, so that was the end of my port envy :-)

I think some of you may not know about Glenda. I met her through Lyle when he worked at Zedi. The November before the last one (sorry the math brain is off today!) and she had just landed a job with a new and much better employer. Fast forward 9 months, or June of last year and she contacted me as she knew I was seeking a new position with better benefits and pay, when she told me about my current position and to get my resume in asap. Anyhoo, her and I have become good friends over the time I've known her.

The real irony in this is that just shortly after I had noticed my lump, but before I got in touch with the Dr (idiot that I am!), she was diagnosed with breast cancer. And so, once she told me, then I got my butt in gear. She has a different type of breast cancer, it is very aggressive and she was lucky to get in the clinical trial for Avastin. Avastin was in the news in the past couple of weeks here in Alberta as the AB gov't finally approved it for use in colo-rectal cancer.

I call Glenda my tour guide, and I have promised to get her a 'safari' hat so everyone will know she is my tour guide and mentor during this crappy dance. She is a step ahead of me in the dance, her last chemo treatment is at the end of this month and in late April she will begin radiation therapy. If you have a moment please say a prayer on behalf of Glenda as well.

It was great to have her at Chemo for support I must say. We get different drugs, but we both have a slightly wacked sense of humour so we laughed and joked. Lyle even had to join in with us so I guess it was contagious.

Anyway, I guess I should get back to the chemo stuff. The one thing I found different was that I thought the 3 drugs would be in one bag, no way....one at a time! Anyway, they give you an anit-nausea drug first, that took 20-30 minutes I guess. The next one was the E in FEC, Epirubicin. Now most of you know I have developed a huge fondness for red over the past 4 or 5 years but that may be about to end! This is one nasty drug and is bright red in colour! It looks nasty and it is nasty but I guess it does the trick. The E took about 30 minutes or so, and then they did the 5-FU push, which is the F in FEC. I am sure you know what jokes I was cracking when the nurse told me she was doing the FU push now! Very appropriately named if you ask me, which of course no one has. :-) The last drug was the C in FEC which name completely escapes me. Since it was going on for 1:30 pm and I had been there since 11 am I was getting antsy to get the heck out of there. So of course this one and the 'flush' seemed like it took forever. I could hardly wait to leave, I just wanted to go home by now.

We stopped to eat on the way home, which was a good thing. Then a quick stop at Sobey's and home by 4:30pm. I was starting to feel 'weird' and very cold. So I got settled in with my blanket and had a short nap. When I woke up I was still feeling weird, actually weirder if that is possible. I declined to eat supper, just didn't feel right and kept drinking water and water and water. It is a good thing I like water as it is necessary to up your intake considerably during the course of chemo...and none of those caffeinated bevy's either. So I have a acquired a large stock of decaf teas, but I am still having my coffee in the morning...

Anyway I went to bed very early, right after Project Runway Canada ( which is a discussion for another day, contact me privately if you wish to discuss this LOL). At 9:30 I was racing for the bathroom, I was so sick to my stomach! And that continued all nite. Thank God Janna was up at 10:30 as I called the triage nurse at the Cross because I had been sick three times by that point and could not think what I should do. Anyway, Janna and Milo ran into Leduc for some Gravol (and not the by mouth type!) and that did settle things down somewhat. Even my Sgritty Kat knew I wasn't well, she stuck to me like glue, all nite and most of yesterday as well.

Yesterday was hugely nasty, but the nausea abated as the day went along. I was really glad I had grabbed that fruit cup at Sobey's on the way home. And Jello will be made the day of chemo next time! I managed to get some rice down last nite and today I am feeling alot better. I hope this continues.

Sorry for the length of this post, but I really wanted to tell you about Glenda. And I will attempt to update this blog on a fairly regular basis! Hopefully next time my sense of humour will have returned along with my appetite!