Chemo Round 1, Day 2

Well, I got home and I'm feeling pretty good today.  I'm going to blog earlier and take advantage of this energy!

Today was supposed to be a long day (and it was, we were at the infusion center about 5 hours).  The medicine they gave me today has the potential of strong reactions, so the first thing they did was give me IV's with anti-nausea medicine, followed by Benadryl.  As an asthmatic with seasonal allergies, I'm fairly used to allergy meds - but this Benadryl was STRONG!  It made my eyes, nose, and throat all feel dry, uncomfortable, but not unmanageable.  Thankfully it also made me feel super sleepy.  Now that the day is over, my husband explained that they started the drip rate at a very slow rate, and then upped it every 30 minutes until I got to the right dose.  They start slowly because of the possible strong side effects - chills, itchiness, shakes.

I also started a high dose of prednisone (steroids) today.  I know this medicine well, as it has always been the stronger medicine when I have had issues with a bad cold and asthma.  I have complained that I have a love/hate relationship with it in the past, because I hate the side effects - hyper/jittery feeling, how my muscles all tense up and just hurt when I'm going off of it.  However, I am now learning to love it, it is what lowered the left arm/shoulder/back pain before the mass was reduced in size, it is what helped me get over the back muscle spasm pain last week, and now it is part of the chemo treatment that is helping me get rid of these cancer cells!  Now if they could just put a nice tasting coating on the pills I would be happy!

I can't remember if I mentioned this yesterday, but I will have to go in every day for 1 week (plus the following Monday) every 3 weeks - for 6 rounds of chemo.  The nurses keep apologizing to us for this being a difficult treatment, but we see it as a small price to pay for the life savings!  Besides, I have gotten to meet other patients with this lymphoma online and some end up having to stay in the hospital for the whole week. (If you are a patient, look for "Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma Primary Mediastinal Large B Cell Lymphoma" on facebook, it is great to connect with others going through the same treatment!)

I'll add a quick picture from today, I'm going to try to relax for a bit before my daughter gets home (need to bank my energies).  Thanks to all, two days down!