Chemotherapy, a word I've never associated pertaining to me, it's so unreal.
It was the treatment recommended and to make things more complicated,
I had two options to choose from.
One, the IV option, where I will have a port placed in my upper chest where blood samples will be drawn and where the drugs will be administered. These will be on a 6 sessions 3 weeks apart.
Or two, the IP option, where I would not only have one but two ports; one placed in my upper chest and the other in my abdomen. This option requires a two day hospitalization to infused the drug thru the upper chest and then infused more drugs through my stomach the following day and would then be repeated after the 8th day. It’s brutal, to say the least.
After weeks of praying and deliberating with endless questions, I decided to do option one.
First chemo…
Three days prior to my first chemotherapy, a port was placed in my upper chest that required a minor anesthesia. With the wound still sore, I went to have my first chemo treatment.
Thank God for little blessings, my sister Nory was allowed to accompany me throughout the day. If it wasn’t for Covid-19 restrictions, she would have been allowed to come with me on subsequent treatments.
The day started with drawing blood samples, 7 vials to be exact, to check if I am able to go through the infusion. As we wait for the test results, we had a video call with a Nurse Practitioner to go over one more time what’s expected to happen during the infusion.
As explained, it would take 6 hours to administer all the drugs. I was given two highly potent medicines that will kill all the cancer cells along with the healthy ones, another drug that will alleviate or minimize the side effects of nausea and/or vomiting, and another one that will counter the effect of any allergic reaction to the drugs administered.
Counting my little blessings, the drug to counter the allergic reaction was, so potent that it knocked me out most of the time during the infusion.
My sister, while I was out cold, noted all the drugs administered and spoke to the nurses and the case manager for things to watch out for during the after care. I went home and slept the night off.