Chemo: Round 1

I did it! I made it through the first round of chemo. People keep asking me what it was like ... Could I feel it going in? Did it feel weird? Did I immediately feel sick? The answer to all of those is, "no!". To be honest, it was pretty boring and uneventful. Matt and I go there about 11:15am and met with one of the nurses. She talked with us about what the day would look like, possible side effects over the next couple of days, etc. 

A little before noon, I got all hooked up to the machine. They literally plugged it into my port, it was pretty wild. The first thing they gave me through the IV was some anti nausea meds, followed by chemo #1, herceptin, perjeta & then chemo #2. They all took different amounts of time to flow through. The herceptin & perjeta were the longest, each taking about 90 mins. The others varied from about 30 - 60 mins. Once one of the meds was done, the machine would beep really loudly 5-6 times and the nurse would come in, hook up the next bag and we'd be on our way. 

I had a private room, which was nice and the chair I was sitting in reclined all the way back so I could lay flat if I wanted to. Matt hung out with me the whole time - we ate lunch, he did some work, we listened to music (thanks to an amazing chemo playlist by Carrie), I tried to read and just generally relax. The last thing of the day was to get a shot of a medication that will basically shut down my ovaries as I go through chemo. The hopes is that if this medication shuts them down before the chemo gets to them, it will help my fertility in the future. Kent babies! 

All in all, the day wasn't anything crazy but I left feeling pretty exhausted, mentally & emotionally. I had plans to go to dinner and a movie with friends that night and I had to back out. As I texted them that I was flaking on our plans, I cried. I felt like I was letting them down. It was the first time I didn't do something that I really wanted to because of the cancer. Cancer won yesterday and it made me sad. But it also made me realize that I need to listen to my body and take time for myself when I need it. Matt and I ordered dinner in & watched a movie on the couch, where I fell asleep. Shocking to anyone who knows me well :) 

I woke up today feeling pretty good! I was a little more tired than normal and my stomach felt kind of iffy off and on but overall, things were good! From what my docs tell me, this next week will be when my fatigue gets worse and then I should have two pretty good weeks before my next treatment. I should have more good days than bad and I'll just learn to take the bad ones in stride. Gotta do what you gotta do. I'm sure chemo is about to teach me so much about myself that I never thought I'd know. 

Just keep swimming.

xo,

Ali