Chemo Day Five

Armed with a ton of emotions and more luggage than allowed for carry on, I headed to chemo at 7:15 this morning.  Note the luggage:


I have hand and feet ice packs in the cooler to wear during chemo to prevent neuropathy.  The brown paper bag was a little funny gift for the Cold Capping Goddess, and the beige backpack is the Paxman helmet and accessories.  The big LL Bean bag has everything from an electric blanket to my mobile pharmacy and cancer binder to tea bags and charging cords.

I am only getting one drug today - the chemo, Taxol - so it's a shorter day.  And it's off to a brisk start - at 7:50 I'm brought back to port access for my blood draw and then back to waiting room where my husband is greeting the Cold Capping Goddess (CCG) (to whom I am so grateful for making this commitment to me). I went back to get vitals (weight, BP, and HR) and then off to Infusion Room 3.  Popped an Ativan to combat cold capping.  Noted that my infusion nurse was the same one and I'm thrilled.

Today was different.  As I haven't shown any allergic reaction to the drugs, we cut the pre-infusion dose of Benadryl in half as we did with the steroid, dexamethasone, last week. CCG and I got to work, gently combing my hair back and wetting it, with hair coming out with each comb.  Not a ton, but it's happening, way more than a normal shed.  Wet, condition, apply cut panty liner to forehead, blue cap, bungie cap - done!  Here's what I look like - finished product.  My face looks crazy because the chip strap is super tight to pull the bungie grey cap down on my head hard. If only there were some plastic-surgery-face-lift-benefit from this. (Paxman - work on it.)


The 15-20 minutes of cooling goes really well.  I talk to my husband and CCG for 6 of the minutes and then settle in to ride the waves of cold.  Then at 15 minutes, the skies clear and I'm good to go.  It's really a dependable rhythm.  My daughters want to come during their winter break and I want to be as composed as possible for them, so I'm practicing. 

Normally at this point, I nod off hard for the rest of the time.  Not today!  With the reduced Benadryl, I'm wide awake and looking for conversation and things to do.  My husband leaves to walk the dog and CCG runs to Starbucks to get orders for me (London Fog Latte) and for her family down the hall; her nephew's wife is receiving her infusion at the same time.

I dig into that massive LLBean bag and find a book that I started this summer prior to diagnosis and actually start to read.  The Taxol dripped for an hour and 10 minutes and then I had to continue to cold cap for another hour and then wait 10 minutes to remove the cap so my hair doesn't stick to it.  Volia!  Done by 1:00.  Home by 1:30 and no nap needed!

I take a short walk (amazing) and then realize I'm exhausted and lay low at the house.  I will for sure go to bed by 8pm.  But the entire day wasn't a washout and for that, I'm grateful.  5 down, 6 to go. Almost half way there.  xo J


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