CHEMO #1

DAY 1, 6/25/14  CHEMO DAY. 7 hours of treatments. I had to wait between each treatment to see if I was going to have a reaction. I didn't but Benadryl knocked me out for the whole day. That was kinda nice. :)

DAY 2, 6/26/14  NEULASTA SHOT at 11:15am. Felt totally normal when I woke up and through most of the day. Went out to lunch and shopped. Started feeling a little queasy late at night and some achiness from shot. Had been taking Claritin for aches, nausea meds and B6. Had to take other nausea meds in the middle of the night last night.

DAY 3, 6/27/14  More queasy today. Felt like I had a touch of the flu – queasy & achy. Slept a lot of the day. My scalp feels numb-ish. I can tell the chemo is killing my hair!

DAY 4, 6/28/14  Felt better. Not a ton of nausea. Felt good enough to shower and go out to see Williamson’s baby at the hospital and then to 1 store. I came home and crashed after that. Still, felt fairly good most of the day. Still took nausea meds just to be safe. Really bad digestive stuff going on. Not fun. At all.

DAY 5, 6/29/14  Felt good again today and went to church. Had a little queasiness because I didn’t eat before I left (dumb) so I got a muffin in the church kitchen and some water. Had major digestion issues this morning. Just took nausea meds this morning and haven’t needed them the rest of the day. My appetite was up. Feeling good right now (PM).

DAY 6 & 7, 6/30 & 7/1  Major stomach and digestion issues going on. Nausea associated with a general feeling like a touch of the flu. The bathroom is where I've been living the past 2 days. Bleh! Today (1st) was probably my worst day out of the entire past week. The digestive issues and stomach upset was almost enough to keep me home from a worship leader meeting at church. I have almost no appetite. CANCER PERK! ;-)  My insides feel raw. My mouth and tongue are sore and feel dry. I have little bumps inside my cheeks. I’m swishing with salt & baking soda water 2X day. This is rough stuff! The outer rim of my nose is sore. Chemo definitely destroys all of the natural linings throughout the body. So crazy!

Day 8, 9, 10, 11, 7/2-5:  Digestive issues and nausea/stomach cramps. Tapered off today (day 11) after taking meds prescribed by nurse. Skin is REALLY broken out on my face, neck, head.

Day 12, 7/6:  Digestive meds are working great! Felt GREAT leading worship today!! Face is sooooo broken out though. Here’s what I look like today with my makeup off. Boo! They keep cropping up. Hope this stops. Horrible! I layered moisturizer, primer, concealer, foundation and powder all over my face to cover it up.

Day 13, 7/8/14: My acne totally cleared up. It started around day 8 and lasted til now. Almost a week of bad acne. Thank God it went away! My hair started totally coming out today! I was pulling chunks out every time I ran my hands through it.

Day 14, 7/9/14: Head shaving party! I also feel totally normal now. No side effects from the chemo. This is definitely the “best” week as everyone talks about. 2 weeks out from my last treatment and I feel really normal.

Day 18, 7/13/14: Led worship today and felt fantastic. It was fun leading with my cute head wrap on. Ron had the church pray for me. So amazing! Less than 3 days til chemo #2. :-/

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CHEMO #2

Day 1, 7/16/14: Treatment only took 4 hours and was a breeze. I literally didn’t feel the needle accessing my port AT ALL. Used Lidocain again. Laid all the way back in the chair too. So easy! Had a reaction to the Benadryl with restless body syndrome. 

Day 2, 7/17/14: Felt achy today from the afternoon on (little sooner than after my first treatment) – before my Neuasta shot at 2pm. Ran a zillion errands. Super tired tonight. Nausea is minimal but taking pills anyway. Here’s what my hair looks like now. Lots of real bald patches all over my head.

Day 3, 7/18/14: Felt like crap later in the evening. Got a fever overnight of 100.9. Called doctor’s office and they prescribed an antibiotic and gave me green light to go on vacation.

Day 4, 7/19/14: Felt bad this morning. Fever had gone down but I was feeling like I had a touch of the flu. Traveled all day, rested in the car. Felt better later in the day. After dinner, I was cold outside and didn’t realize I had a fever again of 101.4. Fever broke and has stayed down.

Day 5, 7/20/14: Fever still down. I feel good today. No real issues today. Fever was only at 99.4 in afternoon – totally down at night. Took nausea meds just as preventative and digestive meds. Went to beach and out to dinner with no issues.

Day 6, 7/21/14: No more fever. Felt pretty good today. No stomach cramps. Mouth tastes weird again like last time. 

Day 7, 7/22/14: Felt pretty good today. Mild nausea from hunger. Did get some weird splotchy sunburn spots on my legs where my skin was dry. Loaded up on high spf lotion and I was ok even after being in sun/ocean for a long time. Mouth is a little sore.

Day 8-9, 7/23-24/14: Digestive issues again but no awful stomach cramps so it is bearable. Meds definitely help after I take them. Have some mouth sores. Been swishing with baking soda & salt 2x’s a day.

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CHEMO #3

The day I got my Neulasta shot, I started to feel bad that night. This was the worst I’ve felt so far. I was down for the count for over 4 days. I didn’t go to church that Sunday and had to stay home. I was on the couch from Thurs night through Monday morning when I finally felt okay enough to go out. I was super achy and felt very flu-like. Took a ton of meds to combat the achiness and yucky feelings. Definitely the worst post-treatment time so far.

Digestive issues began as usual about 2-3 days after treatment. My mouth had the same burned feeling, roughness on the roof of my mouth and some canker sores. Same thing with the nasty taste in my mouth. This was definitely the hardest treatment cycle so far.

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CHEMO #4

9/14/14

I am just a couple days away from my 5th chemo treatment so I’m feeling pretty good, of course. This has been an interesting round. I didn’t start to feel bad after the Neulasta shot until Friday afternoon. Even then, it was probably the least affected I’ve felt post-treatment and shot. I was so surprised. I kept expecting to feel horrible like usual (and especially after the last round) but I didn’t. I did stayed home from church on Sunday just because I wasn’t feeling 100%. Still, it was not bad and I was very pleasantly surprised at how it didn’t take me totally down like it did in round #3.

I have experienced a variety of new symptoms this round though. My mouth was rough and yucky feeling as usual. I was really surprised when I shone a light on the roof of my mouth to see how horrible it looked. I looked completely sick. My throat also hurt too like I was developing a cold. That was a first.

I also developed a ton of dry patches all over my body that were red and splotchy. Really yucky! I used a ton of moisturizer that did help. They eventually went away on their own these past couple weeks. Here’s one that I had on my leg that was in the shape of a heart. Lona said that was God’s way of telling me he was with me and loved me even through this hard journey:

 

I recently developed some neuropathy in my fingertips that has me concerned. My feet are also a little worse. In the past week I’ve started to experience sore/weak/stiff muscles. It feels almost like I haven’t stretched or used my muscles at all. Which is kinda true! However they also burn a little too when I move. Very weird, but I’ve been reading up and I guess this is a common chemo symptom.

My face broke out pretty bad again last week to where I had to use full foundation but again, it cleared up and my face is totally clear now. Thank God it only lasts about a week! I didn’t have any acne issues in round #3. My eyes started watering really bad this cycle. Very annoying! My nose has a clear run too.

I still have hair on my head that continues to grow – especially on the very top of my head. I shave it off now. It feels AMAZING to have it all off. Smooth as a baby’s butt! I can pull out the dark hairs on my arm with my fingers and it doesn’t even hurt (the very few that are left). My arms are pretty smooth now! I still have the baby fine blonde hairs left though but those aren’t visible. 

I am now experiencing more fatigue than I ever have. Last treatment I went to lunch with a friend and then grocery shopping and that did me in. I could barely get the groceries in the house before collapsing on the couch and sleeping for 4 solid hours. I’m noticing that I’m not able to do a whole lot before I need to really rest. I’m just giving in to it and letting my body do what it needs to do. It’s a great excuse to take naps!

It’s funny, I read Darlene Zschech’s cancer journal online and she and her friend who was also going through treatment said, “Chemo is like a box of chocolates…you never know what you’re gonna get.” I remember thinking at the time – how could it be so different? I mean, isn’t it the same drugs so you get the same effects every time? Now I know that this was SUCH a true statement! It really is different every time. Different symptoms crop up every treatment cycle and then some that I have every time come at different times in the cycle or are a little different than the last time, etc. You just have to roll with the punches! It is definitely cumulative so things build up and get a little more intense with each treatment. Still – God is so faithful and I am able to rest and heal because He is taking care of me!

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Unfortunately I did not journal after my 5th & 6th chemo treatments. I don't think I did because I was having much of the same symptoms. The main thing I had to contend with through my entire series of chemo treatments was major digestive issues. Chemo destroys all rapidly dividing cells (which is cancer, of course) but it also destroys the mucus lining that protects all of your insides. When you have none of that in your digestive system, it causes diarrhea and nausea. You are given a bunch of strong meds to counteract all of this by your oncologist.  Your nose, mouth and throat are also stripped of any mucus. I had a bad sore throat after several of my chemo treatments and always had a bad taste in my mouth so I constantly chewed gum or drank flavored drinks. 

Of course chemo destroys your hair but it also affects your nails as well. I ended up losing over half of my toenails. It sounds incredibly gross (it was) and painful (it wasn't). I developed blisters underneath my toenails that lifted them off. They have all grown back now but it was pretty disturbing at the time. My fingernails were also affected and turned yellow and dark in different spots. They lifted a tiny bit but I never lost any of them.

Everyone has different symptoms and there are many types of Breast Cancer and chemo treatments (something I had no idea about until I went through it). No matter what - God NEVER LEAVES US OR FORSAKES US! I would not trade this journey for anything in the world because it showed me how great and mighty our God is!