The Battle of Chemotherapy Part 3

Aside from the hair loss, there are other side effects that come with chemotherapy. They can vary by person and by which drug you are taking for your cancer. These are just the ones that I had and How I choose to deal with them.

I was tired from about day 2 after chemo. It was that kind of tired that was your whole being head to toe just really didn't want to do much. I often compare it to feeling like your body is walking through mud, that rather slow motion feeling that you just cannot shake. Around day 4 post treatment, It was more like walking through water, easier but still tired. About day 6 was when I was feeling much better. The only thing that helped a bit for me was stretching, getting up and stretching for about 10 minutes would give me just a bit of energy for a short period.

I still had kids to take care of an a life to live. So I just sucked it up and went to do what needed done. I was at the sporting goods store with my middle child shopping for running shoes, I went to get the same one a new cell phone and I had to get them things to start the school year. Somewhere inside me I just said "Screw you cancer, I have stuff to do." Then after running my errands, I would come home and nap.

Knowing my white blood count was low, I made sure to use the anti-bacterial wipes on shopping carts and carried some in my purse for stores with out them. I also tried to stay further away from other shoppers just in case anyone was out sick.

Another prominent side effect is nausea and vomiting. My doctors gave me 2 long acting meds, Zofran and Compazine and then later on a faster acting short term Ativan. These meds are a god send! I wasn't queezy often as long as I was taking them and I only vomited once when I had forgotten.

Food is another tricky subject. I didn't feel like eating much and when I did, it tasted funny or no taste at all for about 10 days after chemo. I ended up losing about 40 pounds. Everyone you know will offer you diet advice. GMO Free, Organic, Free Range, Gluten Free, Paleo, Vegan, etc etc etc etc. Just thank them for their thoughts and say something like "I will remember to discuss that with my doctor." You get sick of the advice but in your heart you know it comes from a place of wanting you to be healthy, so you deal with it. Then just eat the damn twinky or whatever you can manage to tolerate or might taste not wretched to your chemical filled taste buds. Healthy is always best but if corn dogs and pretzels (or whatever) is the only things that taste good or at least not horrible, go for it. Just get some calories in you in some form.

There are other random side effects that will change from person to person, you might have numbness or tingling in your fingers and/or toes. Yes chemo brain is a real thing. Some people lose finger and toe nails, I didn't lose mine but my finger nails developed ridges.

This is where I will leave off for now... stay tuned for the next battle story.

The Battle of Chemotherapy

The next stop in my War on Uterine Cancer was chemotherapy. I didn't know what to expect and that is a little scary. I remember being on the phone the night before with a friend having a bit of anxiety and being a bit hyper from the steroids I had to take.

My first 4 hour date with chemo.

I didn't sleep at all that night and the next day was dragging ass. It turned out to not be awful. I was in a room sitting in a comfy chair with other chemo patients. The nurse gave me a warmed blanket and pillows. I brought my lap top with because 4 hours is a long time with nothing to do.

The chemo meds in my drip were Carboplatin, Taxotere and an anti-nausea that I don't recall the name of right now. Then 24 hours after I was done with chemo I had to give myself a shot of Neulasta. That was the part I was concerned about, giving myself a shot. The first time I had my neighbor help me because she was used to giving herself shots of insulin. The Neulasta can cause bone pain so I had to take Claritin starting the day of chemo and for 4-5 days after.

I had to do 6 rounds of chemo, one every three weeks. The side effects were not easy to deal with but by far not as bad as I expected or had heard about from others. I did lose my hair but I will discuss that in my next post.

The biggest side effect for me was the tiredness. It was like this bone weariness that no matter how much sleep I got, wasn't able to get away from for about a week.

The first 2 days after a round of chemo I was ok because I was also given oral steroids to take and wow those gave me some energy. I took 4 pills the day before chemo and 4 the day after. I was also given anti-nausea meds ondansetron 8mg and prochlorperazine 10mg. Those pills were amazing at keeping me from vomiting. I was still feeling queezy here and there and the doc gave me another anti-nausea to take that was fast acting if it came on suddenly.

After the first 2 days, then I noticed things starting to happen. My body felt like it was walking through mud and then after about 5 day it got easier and was like walking through water. By day 7 I was only walking through sand. I was still tired but not as to the bone tired.

As a single mother of 3, I still had things to get done. It was time to get kids back in school for the year and there was no one to help with that as I have no close family. So I just sucked it up, no matter how bad I felt and went and bought new shoes, clothes, school supplies etc.. I also was having diarrhea so before I went anywhere I made sure I was taking some Imodium AD just to make it through the trip and always brought water or a sports drink with me.

So this isn't the end of my chemotherapy info but I will discuss losing my hair and other side effects in the next post.