Round Two

I'm sitting in the cancer center getting my second chemo treatment. Seems like my hair loss has slowed down, and I still have some hair left but not much. I expect to lose the rest of it within two weeks or so. I lucked out an got a private room today, which may not be the case in the future. So I'm pretty comfortable and may even take a nap. I've been given benadryl to help prevent nausea, and I'm so sensitive that even one benadryl makes me sleepy. I hope to be able to do some work while I'm here, but we'll just have to see. It sure is nice to be able to stop and relax a bit. I'm still pretty busy with school and work so I don't get much down time except when I'm sleeping at night.

Later...
This round went much faster. It was an eight hour visit compared to the thirteen hour visit at the hospital on the first round. I still didn't have any side effects or reactions during the infusions. The drugs were administered in a totally different order and with different methods, too. All the pre-meds (anti-nausea, tylenol, benadryl) were given (by IV drip) at the very beginning, then the Vincristine and Adriamycin (a.k.a. fruit punch) were manually "pushed" by the nurse via syringe into my port. After that, the Cytoxin was a similar 30 min drip, followed by the Rituxan. They apparently mix up their Rituxan differently than the hospital did, using a bit more solution. They administer it at a rate based on volume, which is then ramped up over time. So I started at a rate of 40mL/hr and had increased up to 300mL/hr by the time it was done. The Rituxan took about 3.5 hours just by itself. Good news is that because I have had another reaction-free Rituxan infusion, I am now pre-approved for a "rapid infusion" next round. This means they'll really crank it up so that I can get the same dose in 90 minutes. So I got that going for me, which is nice. Perhaps the next round will only take 5 hours? It is currently scheduled for April 18, and I'm getting a PET scan on April 8, with results on April 11.

So I guess it's not totally accurate to say that I haven't had any side effects at all of treatment. The hair loss is almost complete, the prednisone wires me when I'm taking it, I've had some mild early-morning headaches that go away as soon as I get up, and I've also been having minor hot flashes in the early-morning, too. The oncologist referred to them yesterday as "power surges" most likely related to my ovaries and the Lupron Depot shots I'm getting once a month. It's also possible that the chemo meds are affecting my ovaries, too. I'm feeling a little sad for my ovaries this morning, and just trying to hold onto the hope that they'll be back in working order once we're through this particular situation.

This morning I'm preparing for my entrance interview into the BFA Printmaking emphasis at WMU. I've prepared my portfolio, required forms, and an artist's statement. Really looking forward to securing the plan to keep going with school, and appreciating the support I've received by students and professors at school during this process. Later on, I'll get my monthly Lupron shot and "roundly" Neulasta injection. But mostly, I'm spending time with a childhood friend who is here to visit. Really looking forward to some quality time with her.