Round 3- Half Way DONE!

People- I had round 3 of 6 on Thursday which means that I am HALF WAY THROUGH CHEMO!!

Being half way through feels incredible. Especially knowing that this treatment is REALLY working well and I am tolerating it pretty well too. If you missed my last post- Carl can no longer be found by physical exam and my large lymph node is down to just about a cm from 3.5cm. You can read more HERE.

So far, I’ve had a different “date” for each chemo session. Justin took me to my first one and my best friend Somer (who lives in GA but was in town for the holidays) took me to number 2. Number three I was so lucky to have my new friend Becky be my date.

As most of you know, we started homeschooling a couple years ago (I’ve been meaning to write a post about how we got started and why we are still doing it…I just haven’t gotten there yet). Anyway, this year we joined a an AMAZING group of homeschoolers- amazing- in their co-op. I’ll write more about how co-op works in another post- but basically we get together once a week and teach and love each others children.

Co-op is where I met Becky and though we barely knew each other- she asked if she could take me to chemo and it filled my heart with so much love! So we made it a date!

So round three Becky picked me up, we headed to Peet’s to get my favorite vanilla latte- and we made the trek to my infusion center (I may have mentioned before? Maybe not? That my infusion center is a bit of a hike from here BUT I love my team so it’s worth the drive). Oh and I was greeted with a song- that was a first, ha!

Becky had a great idea to document some of my chemo with video- genius. So I have a few videos to share with you all to give you an idea of what chemo is like. But first- pre-chemo selfie!

So first up- I have to get my port accessed and get hooked up for the treatments. On the way to chemo- I slather the skin over my port with numbing creme (and I take an Ativan to take the edge off of any anxiety and help bring my blood pressure down a bit too). Here you can see my port covered with lidocaine.

After this was taken, my nurse removed my dressings and then cleaned the area well to take sure I don’t get any infections. then she slammed the tack in my port- ha- and flushed it. You can see this here:

Then we discuss getting kicked out of chemo, hahahaha.

Here I talk a bit about premeds and how it feels to get the giant tack inserted into my port…

In this last one- I talk a little more about pre-meds and how I manage nausea at home- and then Becky helps infuse me with love.

This round went SUPER FAST. Becky and I chatted a lot and got to know each other better- and then it was time for lunch- and by the time Becky returned with our lunch I was DONE! Somehow things just flowed and I was done at 2pm- last time we finished at 3:15pm and the first time (more drugs) we closed down the joint at 5:15pm- so it was fantastic to be done so quickly.

As usual I felt totally normal during the infusion and just worked on downing fluids and gatorade and trying to pee at least once every 30 minutes or so (this helps flush out the meds quickly for less side effects). We had a yummy lunch in the car since it was raining- Asian Box is delish if you’re ever near one I highly recommend them!

As I’m writing this- it’s Saturday morning-day 2- and Justin went out and got me my favorite vanilla latte and grabbed some GF donuts too. I feel pretty darn good this morning. Yesterday I was actually really tired and took a NAP in the late afternoon (I’m not a huge fan of naps) but I then went to bed early also and slept ok. My appetite is good and my nausea is controlled with my meds and CBD oil so I am just going to try to relax these next couple days- oh and get some iron! I think a big part of my exhaustion this time is the fact I’m anemic so we will grab iron today to help with that. Unfortunately, even though my periods were supposed to stop lucky ME! I started mine while AT chemo yesterday so I’ve really got to be on the iron and eat really well because my periods are contributing to my anemia (chemo will do it too so I have a sucky combo). If you have any ideas for yummy iron rich meals- let me know. 🙂

Until next time…