I left early from work to meet Tony at home. I scarfed down a sandwich in the car, as we were running a little late. I met with my onc first to discuss possible side effects. The biggest thing to watch out for this time is neuropathy. Half of the people receiving this medicine will not get any at all. The other half might get various degrees of it, some lasting forever. Although I will be getting chemo every week, I only have to see him every three weeks. He shared with us that he will be on vacation soon and that he's doing a timeshare thing! Wow, I really did not know that even an oncologist finds a way to visit Hawaii the cheap way. Don't they just book the Ritz and call it a day? Student loans gotcha, huh?
Anyways, we didn't get a private room this time. The chemo suite smelled really bad too, like...chemo. It makes me queasy just thinking about it. So, I got three pre-meds: Pepcid, Decadron, and the dreaded Benadryl. They are not in pill form (like with AC). Each one is a separate bag and it goes through my port, immediately into my body. She gave me the Benadryl first, so it would wear off. Before the drip started, Tony went to get coffee and by the time he got back, I was slurring my words so badly, I couldn't even communicate. It felt like the moment before surgery when the anesthesiologist gives you sleep medicine. I was super out of it, but I couldn't sleep. Once the Benadryl wore off a bit, I was able to get some work done (had to prepare for the 1st day of school).
Finally, the nurse started the Taxol-only after giving me 15 minutes of a "test" to make sure I didn't have an allergic reaction to it. The rest of the Taxol was given over an hour. By the time I finished, it was about 5:00. I was there at 1:40. There goes my Friday.
Ahhh....Monday was the first day of school. I felt almost 100% Monday morning. Just a bit tired, but who doesn't lose sleep the night before the first day of school, right? Yes, it's my 11th year, but I still get nervous. Every single time. Especially this year when I knew I had to explain why my head was covered. I know I've mentioned this before, but it's sooooo hard to match my clothes with my hats and scarves! Ugh. With this horrible heat wave, I should just go bald. Ha!
I sent home a sealed letter to parents letting them know about my diagnosis and treatment schedule. I also asked parents to speak to their children about cancer before we have an open discussion at school. Today, I spoke to my students about it and it went really well. Some of the kids were really sweet...saying they were sorry and they hoped that I feel better. Another one said she had a neighbor that died from breast cancer. Nice...thanks, but that's not going to happen with me. I told them we are going to party like no other when I start getting some fuzz on my head.
Friday is almost here again. *Sigh* I guess it just means that the next 11 weeks will fly by, right?
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| Matthew's first day of 1st grade |
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| I got a major headache after the Benadryl drip. |
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