I had the first chemo infusion on Monday, Feb 5^th.  After a rocky few weeks, I’m feeling pret-ty good today.  Thank goodness!

How’s it been?  To be honest, I was naïve.  Not that I thought chemo would be a walk in the park.  But I’m young, good attitude, not prone to pity parties.  I’ve got tremendous support.  But it has been a really difficult, rocky ride.

The first few days of feeling the effects were “flu bug meets stomach bug.”  I had no energy, almost no appetite, and difficulty drinking enough to stay well hydrated.  No details needed on the stomach bug part!  A few days into the chemo effects, I came down with a sinus infection, which I’m prone to when my immune system is lower.  Misery and more misery!

The helpful thing is knowing what to predict.  My oncologist told me to expect a rough Wednesday through Wednesday (and then to add an extra day onto that timeframe for each additional round of chemo).  And he was right on.  Wednesday was the first day I even thought of not taking the anti-nausea meds I’ve been given.  By Thursday, my appetite was returning.  If it was not for the sinus infection, which peaked Thursday evening, I may have been feeling fairly decent.

The chemo effects are strange.  My mouth was super sensitive, lips dry and cracked, nasal passages as dry as can be (I cannot remember the last nose-bleed I had before this).  My fingers began tingling.

My food preparation was fit for a one-year-old: completely bland, room temperature, tiny bites to fit into my mouth without disturbing my cracked lips.  I have patches of acne that would make any teenager jealous, and on some of the strangest places.  Right waist area?  When it spread to 30-40 large bumps, I finally called my doctor to make sure it was normal.  Side effects of the Perjeta, I was told.  Ok, no problem.

Thursday was rocky.  I was chilling tremendously for a few hours, and thought I may have a UTI.  Gabe and I drove over to the oncologist’s office to be checked out.  I was wearing a heavy winter coat on a warm day, and could not warm up.  Since a fever for a cancer patient is 100.4, I was positive I had one and was wondering what they do for patients who have “high fevers”.  Hospitalization?  I would not have been surprised with how I was feeling.  We asked our family to join us in praying that I would not have to be hospitalized.  Imagine my delight (although confusion!) when I had no temperature at all.  Praise God!  I was never more thrilled to get in the car to head back home.  I slept a few hours, and then slowly rallied around the kids’ bedtimes, so I could kiss them goodnight.  Sweet and precious to be home with Gabe and the kids, and to sleep in our own bed.

One thing I did not know about chemo is that you must be extremely careful eating anything raw (fruits, veggies, etc) during the week of feeling the chemo effects.  The reason is your inability to fight even small levels of normal bacteria during that “low time.”  Since I had almost no appetite anyway, it truly was not a tremendous sacrifice, but I was excited to eat a salad last night.  Oops again.  I am not prone to food poisoning, but had a reaction that strong and vicious.  Gabe’s guess is that the chemo has certainly affected my normal, healthy gut bacteria.  I had nothing to fight with.

What a gift to sleep well through the night last night, to wake up this morning feeling some energy, and to enjoy a rather uneventful day.  It’s the first time I’ve fed my sweet baby Kai, rocked him, and put him to bed in 2 weeks (partially because he was sick, and then I was sick).  I savored every moment.

Gabe gave some good perspective through it all.  He said, “Well, I hope the (chemo) medicine is wreaking as much havoc on the cancer as it is on you.”  Great thought.  I’ll take it.  We are praying for a smooth week leading up to Round 2 on February 26^th.  Thanks for joining us.