I was anxious for my first treatment & felt prepared at the same time.  I attended all of my husband’s treatments for lymphoma last year, so had a general idea of what to expect.  My supportive husband in return, has taken me to all of my treatments as well.

Upon arrival a nurse first accesses my port, which was only scary the first time not knowing what to expect for pain.  I was appreciative the nurse numbed the area with ice the first time.  While there is some stinging initially I don’t find it to be too bothersome & my oncologist advised they could prescribe a numbing cream if needed.  Once the port is accessed, blood is drawn & immediately sent to lab to ensure it’s safe for me to receive chemo each time.

Next I see my oncologist who does a quick physical check.  We discuss any new pains or side effects & how to combat them.  We go over my bloodwork results.  Since my blood count & iron levels have been continually low since surgery, we eventually introduced an iron infusion to my chemo routine as well.

Last, it’s time for the actual infusions.  We begin with an infusion of anti-nausea medication followed by the iron & then finally the chemo medications.  While the chemo itself doesn’t make me feel any different while it’s administered, the nausea medication on the other hand makes feel very dizzy & disoriented as it’s infused.

The first four rounds of my chemo were different than the final four & the two sets have yielded slightly different side effects.  I have chemo on Mondays every 2 weeks.  This gives me a recovery week, allowing time to rebuild cells as needed.    As a result, I typically feel worse the week of chemo & better the week after.

The side effects began quickly with nausea which I immediately tried to remedy with the medications prescribed to me in advance.  I found one of them yielded zero relief but the other worked tremendously.  I learned that if I failed to take it & allowed myself to get hungry I would feel very sick & the meds weren’t as effective once the nausea had already set in.  Eventually I was able to stop it before it began by taking the meds as soon as I awoke.  When the meds failed to help, I alternately managed the nausea with saltine crackers or cold apples.

Being a migraine sufferer for over a decade, chemo has increased my frequency of headaches & migraines.  I was able to alleviate some with Tylenol, which is bizarre since Tylenol has rarely relieved any pain for me previously.  In the cases where the headache doesn’t subside with Tylenol, I’m able to at least reduce the pain level with my prescription migraine meds.  However in some instances nothing helps & I spent a lot of time with ice on my head for comfort instead.

I also experienced some mouth sores, which basically felt like canker sores on my tongue.  But even when they weren’t visible, my tongue still felt tender & couldn’t handle anything spicy or acidic.  I would occasionally begin to get sores in the corners of my mouth, which eased quickly with Burt’s Bees Wax.  And this is completely strange, but I also rubbed Burt’s Bees on the canker sores on my tongue & I swear it made them go away too!  My oncologist offered medication but I never needed it with my new found home remedy.

As expected, two weeks into treatment my hair began to fall out.  For me this was the most dreaded part, I liked my long hair.  It started slowly & I wasn’t sure if I would shave my head at the onset or allow it to happen slowly on its own.  Eventually it got to the point where my showers were mostly focused on catching globs of hair before they made their way to the drain & I spent my days literally covered in hair… at which point it was time to woman up & shave!

I noticed my skin began to dry out & look dull.  I increased my moisture routine & learned some great makeup tips to help combat my new greyish hue.  I also like to use the self-tanning lotions that moisturize in combination with my standard moisturizer to help give my pale skin a boost.

After my second treatment my eyes began to water constantly.  I had tears streaming down my face from the moment I woke up until I laid down to go to sleep.  I carried tissues at all times & had boxes basically everywhere in my house.

I felt rundown.  I tired quickly from a seemingly standard task.  I found the fatigue was something I was able to work through if I could to force myself past the initial feelings of exhaustion.  I also found that when I slept, I would often awake feeling even more tired, rarely did I feel fully rested.

Muscle & bone aches are a common side effect of chemo.  I found the majority of my muscle pain came from the immunity booster I was receiving, an injection to aid in rebuilding white blood cells.  The days immediately following the injection, every muscle in my body hurts terribly.  Shower water hurts, clothing hurts, the muscles in my face & throat hurt making it painful to eat or drink.  Even sitting or lying down are awful at first.  On these days a sweet hug from my children or an encouraging pat on the back from my husband are excruciating.

The injection also causes bone pain.  I’ll say it again & again that I’m tough when it comes to pain.  But these bone pains stop me in my tracks & literally take my breath away.  Thankfully they are far & few between making the frequency tolerable.  I’ve found they occur mostly in reaction to my actions.  When I get up too quickly from a seated positon, I experience bone pain in my hips.  When I sneeze, cough or laugh really hard, which happens a lot with two silly kids & a crazy husband, the pain radiates through my ribs.  While the pain is intense, it’s always worth a good laugh, even if it ends with me gasping for air in agony.

Last but not least, chemo brain… this is real people.  It was listed as a potential side effect in the material I received & I assumed it wouldn’t happen to me.  I was wrong.  I forget everything, I get confused in the shower… did I wash my face yet, yeah I’m sure I did, or did I?  I’ve left burners going on the stove & am now so paranoid after a pretty close call.  I can’t remember where I put anything, I grab the vitamins or Tylenol & can’t remember if I took it yet or not.  I swear one of these days I’m going to go to accidentally leave the house without a wig or beanie, I’ve come close.  It’s a feeling I’m not accustomed to & I find it extremely frustrating at times.

Chemo has been a challenge so far, but these side effects are temporary & will hopefully keep me cancer free in the future, allowing me more time with my family.  My family is amazing, I’m so lucky to have them & they make every ache & pain worth it.  I would face a million more if it means I can watch my children grow up & help mold them into good positive little people as I have always intended to.

First chemo treatment. Miss throwing my hair up in a messy bun, it was kind of my thing!

2nd Chemo. Still my own hair & my signature messy bun, lol.

3rd Chemo. Real hair gone, but can admit this wig is better than my messy bun!

4th Chemo. Having fun with wigs!

My treatment center has a rooftop patio with a putting green! ♥