Chemo #2 Recovery Time

After the second treatment on January 28th, I'm officially half way done with chemo---YAY! IF the PET scan after that shows excellent response, then I move straight to immunotherapy treatments, which are still administered at the fusion center through my port. I am currently getting one chemo drug and two immunotherapy drugs at each infusion. If things are NOT satisfactory or the tumors have not shrunk enough, (I have a big, 16mm tumor in the left breast, and smaller one(s) in the lymph nodes, then more chemo treatments will be scheduled. 

The first three days, you are on steroids. I take dexamethasone by pill form. Boy, am I jittery! I feel like an ADHD kid on a candy binge! My sugar is up to 207 this morning, but it comes down fairly quickly later in the morning. If I get another high reading like that, then I notify my primary care physician and I might have to take diabetes meds....just one more thing to add to my burgeoning pharmaceutical supply. 

My digestive system can't decide if it wants to be plugged up or let loose. Makes me nervous, but this happened last time, too, so anywhere I go, or at home in the apartment, I stay close to the bathroom. 

Yesterday I went to the Y and rowed for 45 minutes and then walked the treadmill for 1.5 miles. I really love using the rowing machine. I put on some tunes, and off I go...I'm paying attention to my energy levels but did ok. I think my good response in my bloodwork is partly due to how much bike riding I did well into the fall, along with continued hikes at a local park. I'm way down on exercise as opposed to when I was well, but I'm grateful I can still muster up a little energy to keep moving. It's really difficult to keep exercising. The doctors really push it, but when your body can barely function a lot many days, it's hard to get some exercise. I felt great after going, didn't take a nap, and slept well last night. The mouth sores have cleared up rather suddenly-YES! and so have the bloody noses and blood clots that were affecting my breathing. I put a humidifier in the bedroom and that was a game changer. I've been using a couple different treatments for the mouth sores, and I think everything just kind of clicked or it was just time for them to go away. Hope they stay away! 

And....they didn't...mouth sores appeared again about three days after second chemo. Back to salt water/baking soda swish and rinse and repeat. I've tried Lysine, special mouth rinses, zinc and other various remedies. The only thing I haven't tried is a different toothpaste without the ingredient lauryl sulfate, which sometimes can aggravate or cause mouth sores, "they" say. 

This week the hair is falling out fast. On February 4th, exactly four weeks after first chemo, I shaved my head with the clippers of what was left of my hair. I'm using a lint roller to get it off my pillow and my clothes. I even roll it all over my scalp, which feels kind of good. Now that it's falling out faster, my scalp is not hurting so much. But my scalp now ITCHES like crazy! While surfing the net, I saw this shirt and I just had to order it. I'm going to wear it to my next chemo/oncologist treatment. I like my oncologist very much. He's really up on the latest treatments and he is honest, caring, and a warm person. I feel I'm in good hands with him. His staff is exceptional, too. Can't ask for much more than that!

Much less traumatic doing it little by little, that's for sure. I would say most of it fell out between weeks two and three and it was already at 1/8" all around. I kind of feel like that's a minor obstacle I had to get through and not fall apart, and because I did it myself, I felt I had some control over what was happening, and not the other way around. Family members or my best friend, Jeannie, would have stepped up in a heartbeat if I had asked them, but I'm happy that I got that out of the way myself!

Taste buds are really off again...nothing tastes good and appetite is way down again as my body fights off nausea. I have THREE nausea medications. Two of them I trade off on, one of each every three hours while I'm awake. The third one is taken at night for five nights and that's it--and as the doctor said it's to fool your brain into thinking everything is all right in your system. I've always said "You can't fool me, I'm a special ed teacher", haha....so we shall see. Or is it, "You can't scare me, I'm a special ed teacher." I'm not scared any more...I have a treatment plan, I have an excellent oncologist and support staff. The scariest part was the anxiety of initial waiting to know how much chemo? How big are the tumors? What is the plan? What are my chances for being around for awhile?

Very good, I think. I have heard from breast cancer survivors who have almost the exact same diagnosis and very similar lymph involvement, and they are still here after 10 years, 14 years and more, so I hope to get to be on the good side of statistics. Of course, everyone responds differently to treatment, and all I can do is do my best to take care of myself and follow doctors' orders.

The nighttime nausea meds finished and I can feel that I'm going to have to stay on top of the day meds for nausea as it's hitting me this weekend. Thank God, I am not vomiting! I can deal with the other.

The port injection site has cleared up a little after taking the antibiotics.  I don't feel that it looks the best, it's still got the very red ring around the entry wound, but only the doctors can say for sure. The rest of me feels a little weak. My skin has been VERY affected by chemo. The skin on my hands is showing a bad rash. The onco nurse says it's "chemo rash". They will prescribe something if aloe vera gel doesn't help and other various healing creams I have at home. I ended up having to get an RX hydrocortisone cream.  The rash feels like a second degree burn, it's even blistering....My legs are a little rubbery, and my balance seems a little worse than normal. I'm sure it's all the medications I'm taking, but will definitely call my doctor if any particular thing gets worse. 

I also worked a half day, two days after chemo. I'm in the "up" cycle with the steroid treatment, so I feel I can handle working a bit. Today was a half day PM 4th grade class at one of my favorite schools. I actually got to work with struggling kids and try to get everybody on board with reducing improper fractions...something you use all the time when you get out of school--HA! The kids were amazing--quiet and respectful. I decided to sign up for a full day next week and two half days in special ed. the week after that, taking each day as it comes. If I feel at all not up to it, I will cancel. It was great to be back in school. 

I saw my little first graders from last year who are now in second grade, and for whom I did two long term sub stints. "MRS. SPARKS!!!! What are you doing here?" (subbing, guys...) "Are you coming to our room?" (Not today, but one of these days!) "Why do you have a hat on?" (Well, I like wearing hats now and then). "Do you remember my name?" (Ummmmm, some of them I did, but boy, have they grown! So some I didn't remember). And the best part was....I got a lot of hugs. 

Not being able to remember things is going to come into play more predominately, me thinks. There is such a thing as "chemo brain", and I've noticed that I can't pull words I want to say, remember how to do things that I've done before, like follow a series of directions, (craft steps as an example) and it's affecting me quite a bit. I'm also having trouble with reading comprehension. Very frustrating. It actually has a name...Cancer Related Cognitive Impairment, CRCI. It can be short term or last for years. My sister will laugh when she reads this. We always joke about is it our age, the beginning of Alzheimer's, or something else? How in the world are we going to know what to blame it on? Meh....We'll just go soldiering on....and laugh about our faux pas. My sister is a breast cancer survivor, THREE TIMES! She's still here and boy, is she an inspiration to me! 

Second week after second chemo.....I worked one full day in first grade this week. They were so good, and it helped that SIX kids were absent today so had a total of 12 kids. It was a long productive morning, then lunch, recess, specials, and good ole Scholastic Magazine. I was WHUPPED  by 11:30. I realized that seven days out from chemo might have been a little too soon to try a full day. It's a learning experience. But we had fun, and I had fun, too. These little first graders were learning about shadows and the word "opaque".  I found some mini flashlights in the classroom and I told them all about shining a flashlight in the webbing between my fingers when I was a kid to see arteries and bones in my hand, and of course, everybody clamored to try and see if they could see their veins or their bones. They were excited, to say the least. It was a good day!

The next day I crashed, lol....just rested and recharged my "batteries". I did go to the "Y" again, and rowed for 40 minutes, and rode the exercise bike. I discovered they have THREE hydro water massage chairs. You pay 12.00 a month to use them as often as you like. I got a freebie yesterday to see if that is something that helps me relax and unwind. It's a DRY warm water massage (93-96 degrees but you really can't feel much warmth through the covering). You can dial in the sections of the body on a touch screen monitor that you want the massage to focus on. OH, YEAH! Sign me up for a couple of months! 

Next week I have one full day to sub, and two half days in special ed, then there is a winter recess/presidents' break where they gave the kids Friday- Valentine's Day off (probably a good thing with not having the usual sugary treats and a classroom party) and then the Monday, the 17th off. Then, February 18th, here comes chemo #3. The days are moving by pretty quickly, that's for sure. Just when I feel at my best, it's time for another chemo treatment to bring me back to reality for a few days. 

Last but not least, a view of my bird feeder out through my patio window....beautiful Eastern bluebird...

                            Thanks for following along....

                                            Love, Jeannie