The journey starts
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Everything seems to be ok. Yesterday was buzy. Went to my grandson’s cub Scout outing. After that had lunch with wife and did a little shopping. Came back to the house and rested before raking leaves for a couple hours. The shower felt good after all that.
Last night was not to good. Seemed to have a little heatburn. Today having a little stomach pain. Seems to be bloated. Will have to talk to GP tomorrow.
Still no nausea. The Sancuso patch seems to be working ok.
Looking forward (NOT) to my next Gem/Cis on Tuesday. With all the hydrating they have to do, it takes about 6 hours. Thanks goodness for iPod and laptop.It’s rare I have heartburn. What is the heartburn med of choice?
My sister’s Onc said she could do pretty much anything she wanted to do. She was very scared of hurting herself, but he said, if she does normal everyday things (including gardening, which she LOVES), then she won’t. He just said she must wear gloves when she’s gardening.
She has a blood test the day before every infusion.
I’m so glad all is continuing well.
Jx
tom….a blood test was always taken before my husband started each chemo session. I would not worry too much about picking up leaves in fact, it just might feel good to be outside and do the normal things. I would however, mention each one of the symptoms you are describing to the attending nurse. I am sure that others have more tips coming your way.
Have a good day.
Best wishes,
MarionIt’s been another day and all is well. Seems like I a’m a little tired/dizzy in the AM and everything get’s better in the PM. I am trying a Sancuso patch on my arm and I can feel it working just after eating something. Feels funny.
Still feel a little nausea, but no vomit or anything like that. Mostly just tired. I start my 2nd dose of cycle 1 next Tuesday at 8:30. Since I will be getting both Gem/Cis it will be another long day. Probably about 6 hours.
What I need to do now is get out of the house and do some walking. What does everyone else do as far as exercise? I have a bunch of leaves to rack and pickup, but my son said he would help. I know that I should not do anything that could possibly me me bruise or get cut.
Another question. Do they usually do a blood check before every infusion or before every cycle. I have an appt with my oncology doc the day before my 2nd cycle.It’s great news that all’s going well for you, Tom. Your treatment certainly sounds the same as my sister’s. She’s on her 2nd cycle now & I’m about to update my blog. (Sometimes I find it really hard to get the blog moving – then it just sails ahead until it grinds to a full-stop again. They’re fun to do though, so if you decide to set one up, do please post a link).
Her doctor said she’s likely to lose her hair but her chemo nurse said it’s unlikely. I’ll let you know who turns out to be right!!
Good luck with choosing your new hair colour
Tom,
Go dye the hair. My hair is coming out now. I have been on Gemzar almost 4 months and it started noticably coming out after my second week. By the end of second month, it was coming out all over the place. When I would comb my hair, there was as much on the comb as I would usually get in 10 days. Now, I am still losing, but not as much…as guess since there isnt as much to loose. I still have hair on my sides, I think what I have could be described as having male pattern baldness qualities to it. I could do a great comb over.
So for me, hair started coming out rapidly then tapered off.We got our chemos on the same day, and I too was a little more tired today. I had a three hour nap in the middle of the day. What can you do? If your body needs it, go for it. Besides, I just got to brag about the nap to my new godsons mother. She wishes she could nap like that.
By the way, are you getting any heartburn? I swear for the first couple of days after treatment I am chugging antiacids like they are candy.
Kris
Update since yesterday. Everything went fine until about 2:00AM last night. I felt a little nausea coming on, so I took a Phenergan tab. Went back to sleep until 9:15. I usually wake up at 6:30. Looks like I might have needed the rest. Today I seem to be a little tired/washed out and dizzy an am moving slowly. Not much pain at all like I have had previously. But all things considered, I’m ok, trying to get as much work in as possible to take my mind off things.
Just a question. Which is better a purple hat or change hair color to purple??
Also when does the hair start coming out? Does it come out slowly over time or is it faily quickly.Welcome, Tom, and I’m glad to hear that your treatments are going well. Good to see your chemo nurses have a great sense of humor…my dad’s nurses did too, and he so enjoyed visiting with them. (They even baked goodies for him on his chemo days!)
This techno world does allow for flexibility. As dad’s fulltime caregiver, I was able to work from whereever we were via portable internet/laptop and iphone…I remember once thinking…who needs to be so available? I will never question this again! I even conducted a business mtg via iphone during an intermission at a show mom and I were recently at…much to her chagrin…I reminded her that because of this, I am able to be available to her. LOL
Seriously, I wish you the very best of luck, Tom.
Jolene
As a Minnesota girl, I’m all for the purple hat…our Vikes are doing pretty well this season!
Hi Tom,
Thanks for sharing this with us and I am glad that everything is good as you say. I hope this continues for you.
Best wishes
Gavin
Tom…great news. You are sailing through the treatment. I just bought a purple cap and love it very much.
Best wishes,
MarionIt’s now Wednesday morning and things are still going good. Had a good nights sleep. Had breakfast along with Nausea meds. Had 1 Ememd 80MG capsule and (2)Dexamethasone 4MG capsule. No sign of any kind if nausea. The Oncolingist said it was bad enough to go thru the chemo treatment and they do everything they can to eliminate nausea and pain. She did say that there is a good chance I will loose my hair. Of course I don’t have much to loose anyway. The doc said that it would be a good time to go purple or pink.
Since I am still working, it is fortunate that I work out of my house and am able to do my work via phone and Internet.
I will post more of my jorney as I proceed.
I posted this earlier today while getting my treatment. I meant to post it here and will try to add more as my treatment progresses.
I will also add that my location is Charlotte, NC
Well, here I am sitting in Infusion getting Day 1 of Gemzar+Cisplatin.
I’ve not seen anything before on what happens the first day, so here is whats happening on my first day.BTW, it’s nice they have Wireless. Let’s me do a little work, surf, listen to books on CD and music. Sure makes the time pass quickly.
7:00 Put on Sancouso patch for anti-nausea
8:20 arrived at Infusion
8:30 IV inserted. Took some blood just in case its needed.
8:40 Started 1000ML of Saline to start flushing kidey
10:15 Saline finish and started premeds. Tagment, Decatron, Emend,Kytrel
They really loaded me up on nausea meds.
11:50 Started another 1000ML saline
11:50 Premeds finished and started 50MG Cisplatin
Cisplatin made me feel a little warm, but not uncomfortable.
In the meantime, my daughter and son stopped by to see me and brought a sandwich and a Starbucks coffee. I keep asking the nurse for a beer, but she said they are out. (Just kiddin)
12:40 Cisplatin finished and doing a little flushing out with Saline.
1:00 Flushing finisked and Gemzar started. 2,150 MG.
1:15 Had a slight burning sensation from the Gemzar. Nurse put a hot towel around arm. She also decreased the rate. After about 10 minutes, the burning sensation went away.
1:55 Gemzar finished. Now have to finisg Saline and am outa here.
3:30 My Oncologist stopped by, or was walking by and I snagged her for a couple of question and to let her know how things went.
4:15 Arrived home. I live about 10 minutes from Infusion and my doctor.I was kinda tired from all the stress and vegged out. Had dinner.
It’s now 9:30 and all is well. I felt like I was a little dizzy after I arrived home, but now everything is good.So far the first day went ok.
I will update tomorrow as my journey continues.
Welcome, Tom!! My sister’s just about to start her 2nd cycle of Gem/Cis – she has infusions on Days 1 & 8 of a 21 day cycle. So far, so good.
I hope your treatment goes well. She’s had no nasty side-effects so far & I hope you manage to avoid them, too.
Good Luck & please keep coming back to ask any questions & to tell us how you’re getting on.
Julia
Tom,
Just adding my welcome to the others. I like that your doctors are organising themselves and you for the fight. Having a plan is half the battle. I also like that they are being aggressive.Best of luck and let us know how things are going. We are a tight group so if you have questions or just need to vent we are here.
Kris
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