The 1st Chemo Day

A few more details about the first day of chemo...

Tuesday night before the first treatment, I went to Hot Springs for a meeting and went out for a few drinks with friends. It was such a wonderful time. It was so good to get away and relax for one night and put all the cancer stuff out of my head. The conversation was wonderful and the support and encouragement I got prepared me to face the challenge ahead. It was a lovely evening and a shot in the arm. I have to say, it was kinda funny when we got kicked out of the hotel parking lot at midnight by the hotel staff :)

Wednesday evening my sister drove down from Nashville, TN and brought me the cutest gift! When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer, I kept saying that I needed everyone to "circle the wagons and shoot!" It was my way of saying that I needed my friends and family to gather around me and help me get through all of this cancer stuff. My sister Janet wrote to me saying, "I've got your back covered and I am a good shot," and signed it Annie Oakley. So, for my gift she brought 3 toy covered wagons and some little cowboys and prairie-people. She set up a little diorama of circled wagons and picked toy characters to represent everyone in our family. She even had a woman character with guns that looked just like an Annie Oakley figure! On the outside of the circle there were two bulls to represent the cancer that everyone wants to kills. Wasn't that great? I got such a laugh! I am going to keep them circled until we get the "all clear sign."

We got up on Thursday and had a leisurely morning. At around 10:00 we went to a place at St. Vincent's Hospital called New Outlook. It is a wig and supply store for women going through chemotherapy. It feels a little silly, but I tried on a few wigs. I tried long hair and short hair. I even tried on a platinum blond look! In the end I walked away with a shorter brown wig that should be more suitable for the summer months. And here's the kicker - it was free! They provide every woman with one free wig. Of course, we left a donation anyway (well - my sister did) but what a nice service! Not sure how much I'll wear it... but you can't beat the price! We also managed to pick up a few scarves and hats through out the day at different places.

A quick bite of lunch and then on to the infusion center at UAMS for chemo number one. My appointment was for 12:00 noon and I didn't get in to the infusion room until almost 3:00. Ugh! We waited around for almost 3 hours!!! At first, something happened to my orders from the doctor's office. They hadn't been sent down like they were supposed to be. Secondly, the pharmacy was short staffed and backed up. I was so anxious by the time we started that my blood pressure was really high. I'm really glad my sister was there for this first visit.

The infusion itself was pretty quick. First, they gave me 7 anti nausea pills to take!! Then three different drugs were administered via IV within an hour. I left feeling okay and decided it was fine for me to go to Eli's 6:00 baseball game. About an hour into it - here came the nausea. I stuck it out for the end of the game and made it home. I took some pills and ate a baked potato which seemed to help. I think I waited a little too late to eat dinner. I was pretty miserable until about 10:30 until I was finally able to go to sleep.

Slept til 9:00 the next morning when Janet woke me up to drink some fluids. One of the drugs is supposed to be bad for your bladder and the more liquids you drink, the better. The nausea was gone but I felt like I had a bad hangover. I slept a lot today and feel decent this evening - especially after the wonderful dinner my sister cooked.

I'm hoping I've gone through the worst of it by now. The nausea was bad, but the hangover part was tolerable. Some people say the worst hits in 48 hours.... so we shall see!