First Chemo Update - The Battle begins in earnest

I had my first cycle of Chemotherapy yesterday and it was not as bad as I had envisioned. However, I was not able to blog because I was feeling unwell the kind of blaah you can't really put into words (not unexpected). I must say, even though I have gone through all the sessions about whats involved it feels like your memory simply defies logical reason and makes you imagine the worst. First, I have to say the number of people coming into the Chemo Day Care just amazed me. All the chairs were filled up and I must say it gave me pause to see the number of people coming in to get their fix of this toxic stuff. I just realized how I for one have often taken life for granted just assuming that every person you meet is healthy. Anyway, I was glad that my partner and Tinashe were there to hold both my hands and that was comforting. I have had people ask me how this chemo stuff happens. I have already mentioned my treatment is cocktail of drugs called ABVD. After registration, I proceeded to the treatment area comprised of several cubicles which accommodates two patients and one visitor per cubicle. The nurse was very pleasant and gave me again another lecture of what ABVD is and the blah blah blah side effects to expect before hooking me up to an IV pole. Then she wanted to know if I had taken the combination prescription of four different tablets supposed to be taken at home one hour before chemo starts.

Because ABVD causes nausea and vomiting, the nurse started the IV by administering some steroids and anti-nausea medicine through the drip slowly. Then when this was done, injected the bright red Adriamycin into the vein directly using a syringe.  Some people have called this the Red Devil for good reason because as it is going in you can actually taste it in your mouth. Nasty! She kept pausing periodically to make sure the drip was going through the vein and not the tissues. She said if the drugs miss the vein the complications can be devastating. Great! I thought but she was amazing she kept talking to me and telling me everything she was doing and what to expect when the medication was going in such as feeling heat as the medication is going through the veins. Everything went perfectly well. The four bags were administered separately starting with the A which looks like some bright red juice and gave me red pee after wards. This was followed by V then B and D which is added through the IV line and go in slowly...drip drip drip as you sit there and wait patiently. After the chemo treatment I felt okay until I got home. It was then I felt really queasy, run down and unwell. So, I slept and that made a difference except for an acute head ache that kept nagging and nausea. I have not been able to eat anything because of the persisting queasy feeling and nausea. All in all, I am doing good even better than I imagined in terms of the side effects. So far so good. Just stay tuned.......