Had My Second Chemo Treatment ( 14 )

Had my 2nd Chemo treatment today. I started my day with 2 steroid tabs with breakfast in the morning before leaving for my infusion scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Once I arrived at the Cancer Center and got settled, there was just one little bump in the road when the chemo nurse was setting up the IV. She had a hard time finding a vein in my hand that would feed well. Frustrated, she asked for the assistance of another chemo nurse, and the other nurse got it right away. Things went smoothly after that. I was was first given nausea meds through my IV. Then I was given a pepsid tab and a benadryl tab chaser. Moving right along, The chemo nurse then gave me my drug #1 - Cytoxan. No problems there. When the drip finished about an hour later, I was given drug #2 Taxotere.

 Taxotere is the nasty drug. It can have very unpleasant side effects at the get-go for some patients. Luckily, I had no initial problems with it ... both the first time and during my second Chemo. For me though, it makes me absolutely exhausted hours later.  

Around noon, I drank some water and had a half of PB and J sandwich I had taken to the center with me. Also had some cheese & crackers courtesy of the center.  A short while later, the chemo nurse came and talked with me about any symptoms I had experienced after my first chemo treatment. She logged everything into the computer. She also looked at my fingernails and said they looked fine. Fingernails can sometimes turn very dark and even lift off.  The very though made me cringe. My wonderful hubby was with me the whole time. He is my rock.
For about 3 hours we watched TV together ... I would occasionally nod off. That benadryl can make a person a bit loopy. 

Also had another visit from the Clown Lady. Today she was decked out in Halloween attire. Black hat, wig, dress. She told us another joke. 
"What happens when a ghost gets too close to a fire? You get a toasty ghostie!" Cute.

Also got to speak to my oncologist.  I showed her the stubble on my head and we talked about after care. She said I would be going every 6 months for a mammogram for at least the first year, maybe two. My prognosis is very very good. 

Tomorrow I will take my last 4 steroid pills for this treatment session, and I also have an appointment tomorrow morning for my Neulasta shot.  I expect I will probably have the same after effects I had after my first Chemo treatment. By the third day I will start to take a nose dive and feel really lousy for a total of about 5 days. No appetite, exhausted, sleeping a lot, Bouts of diarrhea. Then by the the 6th day I will start to perk up and feel even better every day thereafter. By day 10 I expect I'll be rockin'! And I will want to eat everything in sight.

I can do this! 2 down and 2 to go!  Then Chemo will be DONE.  Yay!