Hey Jilly:
Congratulations! Sounds like somethings going right for you.
That tumor reduction is awesome. Hope it’s the beginning of more good news.
Since I might be having chemo in my future, can you tell me what to expect. I realize that chemos are different, depending on what and how much.
But I also know it’s not like swallowing cough syrup for a cold.
Anything you can do to shed light on it would be most appreciated.
Did you have to go into the hospital?
Did you have to have a port installed?
How long does a “session” take?
What does it mean if I have to have 6-8 sessions?
Anything you can do to let me know would be most appreciated. That is, when you feel like it and when you have time.
Much good wishes and prayers,
Jane
I can only speak of my experience so far, I’m still a chemo noob.
: )
Our cancer center has what they call the “infusion room”. It’s where you get “infused” with your chemo. If your hospital is big enough to have a cancer center, then they’ll have an “infusion room”, too. When you get your results from California back and see your onc. afterwards they’ll probably give you the tour, so you’ll know where to go when it’s chemo-time. More than likely you’ll come in an hour before your appt. so they can draw blood work. They’ll do that every time!
From start to finish (including blood draw time) my chemo takes about 4 hours. You’ll meet with your onc.’s nurse, she’ll do an exam (Yes, yet another exam! It never ends!) and then it’s off to the infusion room.
Hopefully, the hospital has wi-fi. Ask and then bring your laptop, if you have one, to your chemos, then you can FReep while you get “infused”, LOL! That’s what I do. ; )
If not, bring a good book, or knitting. You’re gonna be stuck in one spot for at least 2 hours, maybe longer. Some folks just nap during chemo. Our center has TV rooms, which have several small TV’s mounted from the ceiling all around and quiet rooms that are TV free. I used the TV room first, I’m going with the quiet rooms next time. The tv room was too chaotic for me, noisy etc.
My chemo is slated for 6 sessions, (or doses) every 3 weeks. So roughly about 6 months of treatment. This seems to be the standard for my kind of breast cancer. Some gals may get more frequent chemo. It all depends.
Yes, you’ll need to get a port put in. It’s a handy contraption implanted just under the skin near your collarbone. Same day surgery for that. It’s a very quick procedure. (I showed up at 7 am, by 8:30 I was in surgery, by 9:30 I was back in my room and totally conscious, out the door by 11 am!) You will have a little 1 to 1 and half inch horizontal scar on your chest for the rest of your life. It’s the badge of honor. ; )
Ports are preferred because it makes IV’s so much easier and is less stressful on your veins. They literally just plug you in to the I.V.! I just knew it would hurt, I hate needles, but much to my surprize it was just a slight pushing sensation on the port and then *bingo* I was ready to go! Never felt the needle! Whew! The port is not removed usually until you’re a year past treatment...just in case.
It’ll be sore for a while and feel really weird, but after a month or so you hardly notice it. Beware of shoulder straps on seat belts!!! You’ll have to sling ‘em down under your arm. The strap hits right on your port incision no matter if you’re driving or in the passenger side. If you were to as so much get in a fender bender and that strap presses against that spot hard and suddenly, it could be dangerous to you. It could dislodge it or worse, so be careful. My docs didn’t tell me that. I have a good friend who is an 8 yr. survivor who is mentoring me, so to speak, thru this and she told me that.
In our infusion room the nurses are all over, seems to be a high patient/nurse ratio. They’re constantly on the go-checking IV’s, getting new ones started and they also do “stewardess duty” LOL, Frequently they’ll come by with the snack cart-filled with cookies, crackers, juices and sodas-so you can have something to nibble on or drink. It kinda reminds me of the snack service on a plane. : )
That’s another thing...stay hydrated!! Drink alot of water while getting chemo. Bring your own sippy cup or bottle if you like. The goal is to have to go potty either during or shortly after chemo. You don’t want this poison in your kidneys for long. At one point during my chemo they gave me a chemical that within seconds gave me the most horrible taste in my mouth! it was transient, only lasted a minute or two. To me it reminded me of Ambesol, the toothache medicine. It had a strange anesthetic taste. Anyway,drink plenty of water in the days following, too. The chemo is very drying to all your cells. Oh, here’s another weird fact: In the days after chemo you will be instructed to flush twice after you go potty! You’re a genuine bio-hazard for a few days afterwards,( or at least your urine is!) how about that? By day 3 you can stop the double flush nonsense.
Not to be crude, but you will either get constipated or the opposite by day 4-ish. Have some OTC meds on hand for either scenario.
They give you plenty of anti-emetics before, during and after chemo. I never had any problem with nausea. Take your anti-puke pills as prescribed, even if you don’t feel queasy. Stay on your dosage schedule and you should have no problem, too. I was shocked at how easy this was so far! I had maybe 2.5 really bad days, where I was so weak I could barely walk and just felt like crap...like a real bad flu. And those days hit early, like about day 4 or so. After that I just got stronger and stronger until now, a week away from dose 2, I feel I daresay even better than before chemo! Weird, huh? I suspect the next dose may hit me harder, however.
Your sense of smell and taste will begin to change. Odors that didn’t bother you before will become enhanced or altered. In my case so far, it’s microwave popcorn-my girls did a batch one evening and I had to go outside, it smelled so bad to me! So keep that in mind when you go for your chemo-don’t wear any cologne or perfume out of respect for the others there.
I used to be a huge coffee hound, but by the end of the 1st week I had lost all desire for coffee, took a few sips and that’s was it. Now I can have a couple of cups in the morning, but that’s all. So be ready for changes...and they may surprize you-it won’t be what you thought or expected!
Again, this is only my experience so far...your mileage may vary. : )
Right now I’m at day 15, post chemo, and my hair is starting to fall out. I’m imagine by the weekend it’ll be real dramatic, right now it’s just little bits.
And you do lose hair... EVERWHERE. Yikes! :^O
Note to all:
If any of you have any behavioral or mental health questions — about anything — please post it or send me a private email and I’ll respond.
I do know that one of the early considerations re mastectomies is grief. That may surprise you but we grieve anything and everything we lose, including parts of our bodies.
And anything that forces us to make an adjustment is how we define stress.
Actually, I think this thread is a good place to dump a lot of that stuff because I do believe there is so much compassion floating all through these messages.
— Jane
Note to all:
I am horrified to read that a flight attendant — a cancer survivor — had to remove her prosthesis in the “pat down” phase of boarding a plane.
Have any of you heard any more horror stories?
And those ugly ugly ex-ray machines that show way too much detail! How horrifying would that be for women who have had mastectomies!
And I don’t even want to get into the politics of why women in burkas are exempt from the body pat-down, but nuns aren’t.
Grrrrrr
— Jane