Today I met with my oncologist to decide on a treatment
plan. Before giving me any kind of
recommendation, the first thing that he asked me was what my thoughts
were. I appreciated that and for the
most part he and I were on the same page about the next step. I was surprised that his recommendation was a
bit more aggressive than I thought it would be.
The low dose chemo that we had previously discussed was only one chemo
agent, but he is actually recommending two.
I will have three rounds of chemo.
One treatment every 3 weeks. I
had a lot of questions about side effects and I’m not going to lie, there are a
lot of possible side effects and a lot of things I’m going to have to do to
keep my body in place where it can even handle the treatment.
It didn’t really hit me though until the next part of my
appointment, which I wasn’t prepared for.
The doctor sent in the chemo nurse and she was a wealth of information
and very nice but also the harbinger of doom.
She came in with stacks of paper explaining the drugs, the side effects,
and health recommendations throughout the process. She explained how I will need to get my
blood work done once a week and how closely they are going to be monitoring my
blood count. She told me that because my
immune system is going to be so compromised that I have to be really careful
about infection. To which I have to keep
reminding people, I have a two year old.
Let me just try to convey the look of concern that causes with EVERY
doctor and nurse that I talk to. She
actually said, “Don’t let her cough on you,” and I had to laugh. My kid is smart but she is so done with Mommy
being sick and coughing is the least of my worries. The grossness that ensues with a toddler is
beyond coughing. My kid will randomly
spit on me and then crack up, but I digress…
We went over how I need to order cold caps in order to keep
my hair. These are basically freezing
hats, kept on dry ice, which will have to be changed every 20 minutes during
the 5 hour session. She explained how the fatigue will get worse
as the treatments progress and there isn’t anything they can do to help with
that. We discussed all the medications
that I will be given and why. I have
never been so thankful for the small amount of medical knowledge that I
have. True, most of it is in regards to
dogs and cats, but it has helped me to know what questions to ask.
I will have medications at home, IV meds before the chemo,
IV meds after the chemo. As she went on,
the magnitude of the situation really sunk in.
The worst part is that I’m feeling great right now. My energy level is back up and my pain level
is down. I’ve been increasing my hours
at work and actively playing with my kid.
When I left the office, I got in the wrong lane, turned the
wrong way and basically went in circles for a little while. I didn’t know where to go. I was prepared for hypothetical cancer
treatment but actual cancer treatment has my head spinning. I didn’t talk to anyone for over an hour
after my appointment. I just wanted to
process all of this new information and get a handle on it before I had to
explain it to people, and I had to make a lot of calls.
So I’m scheduled to start at the beginning of October. There will be a couple appointments before then
for surgery follow ups and lab work, but at least I have a few weeks to prepare for this
new adventure.
It seems so daunting, but I know so many people who've fine extraordinarily well in this kind of treatment. I hope it's smooth styling for you.
ReplyDeleteMy dad had it every 2 weeks (total of 6 sessions) for tonsil cancer (pretty much the only way you get that is from HPV or by smoking, and he's not a smoker - good morning Vietnam!). They actually put in a feeding tube before hand so he could feed himself ensure since they were also doing radiation. He lost a lot of weight and half of his mustache, but other than fatigue, seemed to do ok. You're young and strong so I bet it won't be nearly as bad as the nurse says. And you know lots of people who live in states where certain herbs are now medicine who could probably help you out. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI had to be in Texas right? I'm going to need some generous visitors ;)
DeleteVery much thinking of you, Jac. It's such a tough ordeal ahead, but I know you'll handle it very, very well.
ReplyDeleteHi. I'm so sorry to hear that you have to go through this. Since having my own health issues perhaps the following will help: 1) ask for some lidocaine (for all the blood work). It is a numbing cream your doc can prescribe and you can put on an hour before getting poked, 2) get face masks and decorate them to wear and have your middle wear (like a game) around the house, 3) disinfect your shower head once a week. It is on of the leading causes of new infections, 4) plan a reward or something fun after every treatment/appointment, 5) take a sweater to wherever you have your treatment because those places can be really cold, 6) remember it is ok to ask for help for cleaning, meals, childcare. Even though we aren't super close, if I lived close by I would gladly help out with any/all of those things and I bet others would too.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! These are definitely things that I had not considered, especially the shower head. You can come on down anytime!
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