Chemo Day Nine

Day 9.  The final long day.  The final day of all three meds, taxol (chemo), Herceptin (HER2+ drug), and Perjeta (HER2+ drug). THP has been the cocktail every 3 weeks, with Taxol being every week for what will end up being 11 weeks.  I am not making the skipped Thanksgiving week's dose up at the end. Small gift from my medical oncologist (MO - now that I have 2 oncologists, must differentiate).

And a long day it was.  Had Port Access at 7:40am, meeting with MO at 8:30am, infusion to start at 9:40am.  The meeting with the MO was really good - I'll be dropping some meds two weeks PFC (post final chemo - I'm getting all the jargon now.), I can take Biotin now to hopefully stimulate hair regrowth, my echocardiogram last week was great, and, wildly, my eye prescription has probably changed (thank you chemo).  I had been noticing that I cannot see as well with my glasses (tilting them to watch TV) and wondering if I needed to up the level of my reading glasses.  Nope.  Just chemo making my eye muscles weak and "wait a year before your next eye prescription check" - code for, it takes a while for that to straighten out again.

Cold Capping Goddess was amazing and again, Paxman should be offering her a job.  "Cold Cap Concierge - Expert Fitter".  Was in an amazing corner infusion room that was huge but no private bathroom.  I fear they have secretly found this blog and now I'm banned from rooms 3 and 4.  Today was room 22 though, and CCG and I broke out into Taylor Swift's '22' song immediately.  I knew my most frequent infusion nurse was out today but ta-da!, in rolls my favorite port nurse as my infusion nurse today; they rotate around I guess and I was happy to see her.  She vibed with us immediately.  I was front-loaded with premeds at the max because of the allergic reaction last week.  

Guess what happened 10 minutes into the Taxol infusion?  Yep, small allergic reaction.  My back started cramping again.  Off went the Taxol; on went the IV drip.  After a break and more vitals check (my blood pressure was on point today), MO was called again we chatted.  After 20 minutes, back on Taxol with a slower drip.  After 10 minutes of observation at the slower drip, they upped it to regular speed and out I went, in a drug induced sleep. Next week, we start with all the premeds again and start with a slow drip. 

I woke a few hours later to see Late Day Lunch Friend had arrived with Tatte in hand!  Very happy to see her but also very tired and was feeling so guilty that I couldn't stay awake to chat.  I dozed off again and then woke up hungry - it was close to 1:00.  Devoured sandwich while chatting.  My husband had slipped away to walk the dog so we caught up.  And then after I ate, I apologized because I couldn't physically stay awake any longer.  Back to drug-fueled sleep.

When I woke up, LDLF was gone 😢 - I was sad I didn't get to say thank you or goodbye in person.  So thank you!  My husband was back though and I could nap more. Finally, they woke me to take out my port (I was done) and start the uncapping of my head.  Slow and careful pack up of my gear, removal of cold cap, and an unsteady walk to the garage.  Home, and made a bee line for the bed.  Slept for hours.

I'm clearly up and typing.  Must have dinner, dropped off by friend - thank you, and then am praying I can sleep (the steroids might have other ideas, in which case, midnight present wrapping will happen).  5:30 workout or 11:00am workout?  That is the question.  2 quiet days ahead but will definitely be focused on holiday stuff.  Thanks for being here and keeping up with me. xo J


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