Chemo Treatment 1 - End of 1st Week Summary

 It is now Friday afternoon May 7, 2021.

Christian had her first chemo treatment of Irinotecan this past Monday.

She had her first chemo treatment of 5FU from this past Monday until this past Wednesday (slow injection pump). We went back to the hospital Wednesday to have the pump disconnected, her Port flushed, and the IV removed from the Port. All of that went smoothly. She also visited with some of her co-workers in the Cancer Center after it was all done.

Side Effects:

So far, this first treatment has not been hard on her like we were expecting. If they all stay mild like this one, that would be a huge blessing. We will just have to see how it goes.

She had no side effects on Tuesday really. We went for a 1/2 mile walk in the neighborhood with the dog.

Wednesday morning and most of the day she was fine. Took the dog for a walk.

That afternoon, she got very tired and fatigued. She laid on the couch and we watched TV and went to bed a little early. She could still get up and do whatever she needed to in the house, but she was just tired. We were expecting that the fatigue that began on Wednesday afternoon was going to continue on.

Thursday morning she got up and felt pretty good. As the day went on, she felt pretty much back to normal. We did another walk with the dog.

Today (Friday) she was feeling completely normal all day. She wanted to do a little makeup and get out of the house so we went and ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant. She took the dog for a walk, sat outside for a bit, and did some light exercises in the back yard this afternoon. She also put on some nails that her sister Jen dropped off in a "care package" the other day. 

We are very happy with how this first treatment cycle went compared to what we were trying to prepare ourselves for. Hopefully every treatment will be this easy on her. She still has all of her hair, as nothing there usually starts changing until after 2-4 weeks from beginning this chemo regimen. 

When we go for the next treatment on Monday May 17, 2021 they will be adding a 3rd drug to the chemo regimen. That drug is Oxaliplatin.

Oxaliplatin has 2 side effects that are very common. 

The first is peripheral neuropathy. This is when your fingers, toes, hands, and/or feet have weakness or numbness. Some people say their fingers feel numb, or like pins and needles. The weakness can be not as strong of a grip. 

The second is being very sensitive to cold. This can be touching something cold, or eating / drinking something cold. They say that drinking a cold drink, will feel like you are drinking glass shards and to just avoid it. Drink everything at room temperature, or heated up is fine. Touching things that are cold (like a metal door handle) will feel much colder than it really is, almost to the point that is causes pain. They say to stay out of the fridge / freezer if you can, and if you need to go into it, put gloves on and you will be fine.

I am fortunate enough to be able to work from home through all of this, so I do not see her going into the fridge or freezer.. I have been her little servant, and have no problem to continue on with that. I need to get her a little bell to ring hahaha. No seriously though, we make a good team and have a huge support group and it means the world to us. Thanks to everyone who has reached out in any way.

Unless she has some side effect or something pop up (which is very doubtful since we should be "through the rough days" of this cycle, I will not be posting anything until her next treatment on Monday May 17, 2021.