The Peas

Two Bags, one for each hand, for AN HOUR, and we'll see if it does any good for the finger nails or not.
Towards the end, it got easier because the ice was gone and the peas were not as cold. 

The Cytoxin is dripping now.  It takas an hour.  Then I get a clean out drip for 20 minutes, then we're outa here.  Only one more to go.  I can't believe it.  It will be interesting to see if the sweet tooth comes to and end.

Chemo Treatment #5

Just got the Benedryl and am starting to feel woozy.
The steroids and anti-nausia are next.  Then, the Taxotere and I'll stick my fingers in the frozen peas.
The peas are in a small cooler with ice.  Kind of like we're medics carrying some torn off body part or something. 

I asked the nurse to advise me when she starts with Taxotere and told her why.  She said she had one patient with real long pretty hair that insisted in wearing a frozen cap on her head during the whole treatment so she could keep her hair.  She would have to keep packing it with ice.  It worked but she had headaches. 

I don't look like this lady in the photo.  Of course, I don't have a great head of hair.  I'm wearing my chemo dress.  Bought it at JJill specifically for chemo day.

It's a very long, orange, sleeveless tank top that's really a long dress.  My head gear is a jungle flowery, very colorful, thing that just slips on my head and it has long tails in the back that I make a big bow out of.  Hoop earrings, a bracelet from JoAnna Chu, who sits next to me at work and some sox.  I also have a big straw hat from Nordi's for the outside.  I am very "uptown" at the chemo place.  I wear the same thing every treatment day.  It's my chemo outfit. 

They say my potassium is a tad low so they're waiting on the Taxotere till they get the okay.  I have to eat more baked potatos and avacados.  Heck, that's easy.  Even Vons has great baked potato soup.  They didn't say I'd have to eat more Haagen Daz vanilla chocolate chip ice cream - they must have forgotten.  Good think I remembered.  They did say more milk.  That's how I take my milk.

For some reason, I have a sweet tooth during this chemo "journey."  Before, I just didn't even think about it.  I was always a salt freak.  Quite the opposite now.  I went to Whole Foods yesterday and bought two pints of Mint Choc Chip Gelato, and one pint of Haagen Daz vanilla chocolate chip ice cream.  Haazen Daz has way more chips, big ones.  But, this particular Gelato has tunnels of chips that you just have to keep digging and digging and pretty soon, it's all gone.  Oh, then it's also time to fix something for dinner. 

Time for the Taxotere - bye.

Fingernails are Becoming a Problem....

This will be tonight's dream, for sure

One of my chemo's is Taxotere.  It's notorious for turning fingernails black, loosening the nail from the skin, and the nail eventually falling off.   I just found this out. I've had polish on my fingernails and toenails for the past week and had no clue.  I took off the fingernail polish today and noticed the loosening part is in the middle of the nail.  It's sort of at the front of the nail too.  At the cuticle, it's growing in ripply but solid.

I found on-line a blog that gave advise about Taxotere fingernails.

I really don't care what anybody thinks

Tomorrow, I'm taking two baggies of frozen peas and a pair of latex gloves.  The blog said to keep the fingernails in the frozen peas during the Taxotere drip which is about 45 minutes.  Consider it done.  The blog said the frozen peas will keep the Taxotere from getting to the blood in the fingers.

Oh, when I make our sandwiches tomorrow morning, I'm going to add the "secret ingredient" used by the chef at the MGM Grand.  On his sandwiches (AND ON HIS FETTUCCINI ALFREDO!!), he sprinkles a little powder out of a Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Package.  On the sandwiches, he just sprinkles it on the mayo.  Tonight, I'm making Fettuccini Alfredo.   Definitely going to use his secret ingredient on that too.
(Whoever is holding that packet of Ranch Dressing doesn't appear to be on Taxotere). 

#5 Blood Draw and Meeting with the Oncologist

9:40 today was the blood draw - 5 viles out of the Port in the arm.  Then they run it through a spinning machine which generates a report.  However, I actually got in to see the oncologist before the blood test was done. 

Everything seems okay.  We went over the "hives" episode.  It's a mystery, although he said do the aggressive working out on the third week and lay low on the first week.  Just too much crap in my system that first week. 

So, I'm set to go for Treatment #5 on Monday.   That evening is also the "support group".  I may go just for the heck of it.  I was so blown away by the griping and wining, I'd kind of like to see who's bald this time.

Feeds Four!

I'm getting good at making the pre-treatment Penne Pasta Casseroles (2) in the cheap-o aluminum tins, the ones that are about 4" wide, 8" long and real tall.  I like to stack stuff in there pretty good.  Trader Joe's 3-cheeses sauce, ground sausage, Provolone slices, grated Mozzarella, olives, just jam it all in there.  Don't cook the Penne all the way though.  It's going to finish off it's cooking in the oven.  I stick two of then in the freezer.  Fred is getting good at putting one in the oven at 350, then before it's done, he takes some out, puts it on plates and finishes it off in the microwave.  It's real gooey.  I have several "chemo-quick recipes". 

After this #5 treatment, I don't think I'll care anymore.  The chemo monster has done it's job and I'm not scared of it anymore.  I even sleep through the night off and on, no waking up to crap dreams that cause crap thoughts that keep me awake all night.  No more fears of getting into vacant houses in 109 degree heat.  After #5, I'll be a lame duck chemo-chick with one more to go.

Quack Quack!!!

WOKE UP FEELING GOOOOOOD TODAY!!!

The hives finally subsided Wednesday and by Thursday, I was waking up clean.  Fortunately, I didn't have anything to do so I just took my anti-anxiety meds in the morning with a cup of coffee to get it going, sat out in the shade with Scatter and rubbed some lotion on my legs.  Read cooking magazines, ripped out good recipes, shopped, cooked some bitchen grub and went into the office daily but about 1:00 and only for a couple hours.  I think that's going to be my new routine. 

I had to go into the institute Tuesday afternoon for a blood draw.  I asked the nurse what would have caused the hives and she said chemo doesn't cause hives.  Well, so much for that. 

My next appt with the oncologist is Friday, 9/17.  I have an appt with Chris the trainer on Thursday, the day before.  I may very well push the envelope and punch that punching bag again on Thursday.  Then, if that caused the stirring up inside which caused the hives, I'll be able to see the oncologist, don't know why that matters..   I just think it was the sirring up from the activity on post-chemo week.  And, that chemo does cause a lot of stuff; what the heck does that nurse know. 

My gut feeling is, post-chemo week should be laid low, low energy output.  Mid-chemo week, the energy can start to accelerate and by the end of mid-chemo week, coffee tastes good and I can breathe again.  Pre-chemo week it's kick-ass time.  That's next week.  Yay!!!!!

Saturday, 9/4, was BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD, BAAAAD!

It just got worse from Friday afternoon on.

About 5:00 Friday, after the movie and before dinner, I started developing rashes, hives, welts, spots. I blew it off and went to our favorite Mexican restaurant. By the time we got home, I was miserable. Fred pulled out all his medicines and one seemed to work. Then I took a Benedryl capspule, drank some Benedryl cough syrup and by the morning was okay to go to 24 Hour. The workout seemed to sweat out a lot of stuff.

This workout was, as promised by Chris the trainer, about 20 minutes on a punching bag. He tought me how to hold my hands in the gloves and where to punch. Get this, by the time I had to sign out for the day, my right hand for signing was smooth. The tingling on the fingers wasn't there. We decided to make it part of the workout. It's more exhausting than the regular workout but it seems to get blood flowing in the hands.

So many of the exercises are hanging onto grips but the punching bag is just plowing the heck out of whatever is on my mind. He makes me do it for a full minute then stop for a couple minutes. He keeps yelling, "harder, harder, harder, I want to see a hole in that bag." So, I punch and punch in 3's. I understand why professionals wind up hugging the bag. At about 45 seconds, I'm hugging the bag. I think he may be onto something that benefits Chemo Hands. We're going to work on it some more.Chemo hands are tingly, weird feeling finger tips that have a hard time buttoning clothes and just being in general on-target. The results of this exercise blew us both away.

Back to Saturday hives. After returning home from 24 Hour, at about 11Am, I did my usual sit down and eat a couple containers of watermelon. Then some leftover enchilada. The hives started coming back. My inner thies were just one big blister. It kept spreading into my armpits, back of my knees. I decided to go to one of the walk-in emergency clinics. After about an hour and a half of waiting, I finally got in. By the time I was seen, my whole back was one big hive, all the way around my sides, down my bum, all over the legs, the stomach, ears. I was sitting in that doctor's waiting room acting like a nut in "One Flew Over the Coocoo's Nest." I got a Steriod shot in the left rear cheek, picked up 3 more prescriptions. My prescription list is starting to look like the Constitution. Fortunately, they come and go. One is for more Prednisone, which I just finished 8/1. One is for an anti-histamine and one is for some stomach acid. Blah, blah, blah. I'm quite sure it's the Tatotere that I'm probably allergic to. All this was recorded by the Dr on duty at the Nevada Cancer Institute and was sent to my oncologist who I'll probably hear from on Tuesday.

This morning, Sunday, the hives were on my knees, legs, feet, and a tiny bit on my face. Thanks to Fred, he went out last night and got some Caladryl Clear which seems to work. It's taken a couple hours but my knees and feet have cleared up.

I don't know what the result of this will be when the 3-day weekend is over but I'm expecting to either have the Taxotere dosage dropped again, or just be on steroids and prednisone till the chemo treatment is done.

I also don't know why I cannot get these paragraphs to have a simple space between them.

Feeling Pretty Good Today, so far.....

Even last night, after the Neulasta shot, I felt pretty regular. No sore muscles, no chills, no weakness. I cooked spaghetti - it wasn't all that good but I got the job done.

Yesterday, I took the last two Steroid pills in the morning and at noon, and had the balls to stop by Starbucks after the Neulasta shot. The Java Chip Frappuccino mixed with the Steroids probably put me into the stratosphere and I overshot the flu-like symptoms. I went back to work and everything was fine. Just wired to the hilt. Kind of like the 60's. Slept fine, of course with help from the drugs they give me.

I'll skip Dr Milne's vitamin drip this time around. One of the ladies in Pilates class told me about Trader Joe's "Emergen-C", many flavors in packets. 24 nutrients with antioxidants and electrolytes and 7 B vitamins. I'll start taking it after the last treatment (10/11). She went through chemo too, and said this stuff boosts her imune system and she feels great. It's cheaper than Dr Milne's vitamin drip too.

We'll see how long this nice feeling lasts. I may need another Frappuccino to keep it going.