Halfway through chemo, my medications changed which is common with breast cancer & was my treatment plan from the start.  The next series provided a higher risk for reaction at infusion & of course a different series of side effects which they said could show some improvement or make me feel worse, everyone reacts differently.

I was hoping for fewer side effects than the previous rounds obviously & so far I would say they are pretty similar overall with some minor differences.  I am currently two treatments into this final four & am, at last, on the home stretch!

To help reduce any potential reaction, I had to take a steroid the night before & the morning of treatment.  At the cancer center they also administered Benadryl via infusion prior to the treatment along with my anti-nausea & iron infusion.

Any reaction would take place only at the time of infusion & they began the medication very slowly at first.  While the infusion was long due to the slow delivery rate, I made it through with no reaction & didn’t need to continue with the steroids prior to future treatments.

I hadn’t been that concerned as my body has proven to be quite resilient recently.  I had also seen the reaction & how it’s combated when my husband received his first lymphoma treatment last year.  He quickly broke out into hives.  They began on his back, he had asked me to scratch it for him, at which point I noticed the hives on his neck & they quickly spread to his face, arms & chest.  They stopped the medication & began giving him more Benadryl until the hives subsided.  They then returned to administering the treatment but at an even slower rate.  They began his following treatments with more Benadryl & always a very low rate of delivery.  The remainder of his treatments went smoothly with no reactions thankfully.

The new treatment made me feel more flulike than the last & I felt it sooner the first time.  With most of my previous treatments I felt fine the day of & typically began to feel side effects the day following infusion for the most part.  I felt a little flulike as soon as we got home from my first treatment on the new meds & went to bed for the night shortly after we arrived home.  My second treatment of this type returned me to the previous pattern of feeling the effects the following day.  I anticipate the same for my third & fourth.

So far this type has increased the muscle & bone aches unfortunately.  In my experience with the last meds, I found the muscle & bone aches to come mostly from the immunity booster.  However with these meds I find that those aches tend to last longer & continue on for more days following the immunity injection.  I am managing with Tylenol currently, but will admit it doesn’t provide all that much relief.  My oncologist has offered stronger prescription pain relief, but I prefer to stick it out as much as I can for now.

I thought the last four rounds caused some dry skin, but it does not compare to this.  My hands & feet are especially dry.  I must put lotion on my hands 10 times a day & the lines in my fingers are still cracking some.  I have had to really amp up my moisture routine even more than before.

My headaches have continued on this medication, though fewer are reaching migraine status so I will take that as an improvement. The eye watering has finally stopped & I couldn’t be happier about that.  At least the world will no longer think I’m crying through life!  My mouth is completely back to normal, no more sensitivity in my tongue so citrus & spice are back in my life!

And last but certainly not least, neuropathy.  It started in my fingertips the day following the new chemo.  At first they just hurt, kind of like when your nail is too short & it hurts a bit to put pressure on the fingertip.  It was difficult to type or do things like open fruit snacks for my kids.  Eventually the pain turned into more of a numbness & tingling with just a little pain when pressure is felt.  It’s an odd feeling which I really only notice when I do something with my hands.  I sometimes find it difficult to refrain from fidgeting to make the feeling occur just because it’s so strange!

Eventually the neuropathy reached my feet, which is an even more strange sensation!  I first felt it while walking through my house barefoot.  I felt like I had stepped on something that stuck to my foot, actually both of my feet at the same time & both on the same part of my foot.  But when I looked, there was nothing there.  Basically the pad portion on the bottom of my foot had become numb making it feel that way.  I’ll admit that it took me a puzzling minute to figure out this was neuropathy in my feet!

Overall for me this one may be just a bit easier so far, since I’ve seen reduction in some of the more bothersome side effects like the mouth sensitivity, watery eyes & fewer migraines.  The neuropathy is a new addition, but has definitely been tolerable thus far.

I am beyond ecstatic to be on the final stretch of this chemo thing!  I’m not greatly looking forward to radiation following, but am ready to put this portion of my journey behind me & take the next step in my process.  It all brings me closer to official remission & moving on with my life after cancer.  I also can’t wait for my hair to grow back!!!

Chemo Treatment #5

Chemo Treatment #6