My Cancer Journey

Nausea   Nausea is something most people associate with chemo, and I did have some. I don’t know if mine was less severe, or if I was able to handle it better because I had done research and controlled it.   The first couple of days after an infusion I was not concerned about feeling sick, as they gave me a pre-med that included a heavy-duty anti-nausea medication.    As soon as I knew I would go through chemotherapy I bought a ReliefBand from the internet. I had heard stories from some who had been nauseous from chemo, as well as those who have motion sickness. They all said ReliefBand helped keep the nausea away.   It is a strange thing - looks like a watch, and you put it on your wrist with the watch part on the inside of the wrist. It comes with a gel that helps conduct the electricity through your skin. The gel is not cheap, so when it is gone you can use aloe vera gel instead.   You rub a small amount of the gel on the inside of your wrist where you w...

On Thursday, January 10, I had two tests, an echocardiogram to make sure my heart had not been affected adversely by the Herceptin, and an MRI to see how well the tumors had reacted to the chemotherapy.    My heart looked good. It did not seem it was affected at all. Great news! I was, however, concerned about the MRI. The contrast (color) they put into my system to get a better picture, made me nauseous last time. Not to the point where I vomited, but I did not want to take a chance that would happen.    First, I thought to put Vick’s Mentholatum in my nostrils as the nausea was brought on by a chemical “smell,” but the smell did not enter through the nose, but from inside my body. Therefore, I did not think it would be possible to block the smell. Instead, I brought one of my anti-nausea pills, the sublingual (melt-in-your-mouth) Zofran. I took that right before the MRI and it worked great. No nausea!   The other concern was that the tumors had not shrunk enou...

I know others have different experiences, especially with drugs that are different from mine, Taxotere, Carboplatin, and Herceptin, but the infusion itself was not painful or uncomfortable for me. It was, however, very stressful and anxiety inducing. My blood pressure still shoots up every time I go to the hospital. It was also tiring to sit for such a long time. Because of he premeds I was pretty perky the day of and day after. So perky that it was difficult to sleep at night. Even though I was bloated from all the liquids and steroids, I wanted pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) for my meal after the infusion. It was delicious and perfect, and Craig was happy, because he likes it as well. It became our tradition to eat pho after all my infusions. I unfortunately associate pho with chemotherapy now, so I cannot eat it. It will hopefully change eventually. The day after the infusion, September 16, we went back to the hospital for my Neulasta injection. This pushes the bone marrow to create w...

The night after the port was placed on September 13, it was difficult to get comfortable while lying down. The incisions were tender, and because of my vertigo I could not lie on my back. Despite this I felt okay the next day. At least until the premeds I took to prepare for the chemotherapy got into my system. Because of the side effects of the chemo, I needed to take steroids, Dexamethasone, the day before, day of, and day after the treatments. This helps prevent nausea and vomiting as well as reduce inflammation. There are side effects from this as well, but will write about the side effects I had from all the drugs in a later post. My oncologist prescribed a bottle of 4mg pills, and wanted me to take two pills, 8mg, in the mornings, and two in the afternoons. She made sure I knew the pills could cause sleeplessness, so I should not take them too late in the day. I am not used to take a lot of pills, so did not realize that 3pm was too late for the afternoon dose. The drug made me j...