Treatments

My treatments are this:

I have to have radiation for 7 weeks, 5 days/week. My appointment lasts for about 25 min. I have to lay perfectly still on a hard table while machines rotate around me delivering beams of radiation towards my back and my chest. I have six blue tattoo dots that are used to line up the laser beams. I don't feel the radiation. The side effects will be fatigue, an increasing cough, and an increasing sore throat (possibly to the point where all I can drink are shakes).

I have to go through two types of chemotherapy that are given through an I.V. One is called Cisplatin and the other is Etoposide. Cisplatin is given on days 1, 8, 29, and 36. Etoposide is given on days 1-5, and 29-33. I believe I will have three cycles of both of them that will take me through December.

The Cisplatin is the most toxic to my system and is the one that takes over 5 hours to deliver to me. My system has to first be flushed out with a whole bag of saline, then I am given 2 small bags of anti-nausea meds and 1 bag of steroids (all given individually). After those I get my bag of Cisplatin which is as large as the saline bag. After that, I am given yet another bag of saline (a little smaller than the first). The biggest side effect from Cisplatin is nausea and vomiting. Thankfully though, modern medicine has come a long way, and the meds they offer are incredible! I have not had any nausea, and that was my BIGGEST fear about going through chemo - throwing up! When I am given the Etoposide, it only takes an hour and a half. The side effects of Etoposide is hair loss (all hair!), nausea, and mouth sores. (And of course there are many other side effects from both chemos that can happen.)

On Monday, September 13th, I had a port put in my chest (best thing I could have done!) and then the next day I started both chemos and radiation. That day was so awfully long! Mike and I spent over 6 hours at the oncology office for my chemo. I was feeling pretty brave until I went into the chemo room, sat down in the chair, and start looking around me. There were three other patients there receiving chemo. I put on a brave smile, looked at Mike, and then just started crying. It was the fear of the unknown, and the fact that I was actually sitting there, about to be poisoned. It's a very frightening feeling. Mike was very sympathetic and calmed me down. I was fine sitting there through all the saline and then the premeds. But when the Cisplatin started, I felt so nervous! Especially since the nurse says, "Now you let me know if you feel anything out of the ordinary, like your throat closing up..." That was comforting. But I did it, and there were not any reactions. Later that day at 5:30, I went to my first radiation appointment. The first appointment took about an hour. I was exhausted by the time I got up off that table. The nurse handed me my daily radiation schedule and I saw that each day was scheduled for 5:30 pm! That was the last straw of the day for me. I just started crying. I kept apologizing to her, told her I was just exhausted, and that 5:30 was just such a difficult time of the day for me. Anyone living in Santa Cruz knows what the traffic is like at that hour (and I was 20 min. late to that appointment because of it!). Thankfully, they were able to change my schedule, and as of yesterday, I get to have radiation at 1:30 every day. That is so much better!

Saturday I had to go in to Dominican Hospital for my 5th day of Etoposide. I was supposed to be there at 12:30 and I got a phone call from the hospital before that telling me not to come in yet, because they couldn't find any Etiposide anywhere! I couldn't believe it! How does that happen? They finally located it in Salinas and then it was 5:00 before I finally got down to Dominican to get my chemo. It was 8:00 when I finally left. Ug!

So now I have completed 5 days of Etoposide, 2 days of Cisplatin, and one week of radiation. So far, I have just been feeling a whole lot of fatigue, stomach upset (not nausea), weight loss (10 lbs since July), mouth sores (I can't eat anything hard anymore), and of course all this chemo shuts my intestinal system down. I am noticing irritation in my esophagus and a little coughing. So far I still have my hair. As most of you know, I chopped it off a week ago so that I didn't have to deal with longs hairs falling out. I did notice last night though that quite a few of my eyebrow hairs were falling out and my scalp is sensitive and tingling. I think it's going to happen soon. I'm not sure how I feel about being bald. I had a dream last night that a large chunk fell out and I started to cry and asked Mike to stay home with me and not go to work. So I must be worrying about it. I am sure I will have a good cry about it, and then just move on. What else is there to do? I bought several cute hats that will be fun to wear. Maybe I will be surprised and find that I have a beautiful bald head? :)