How Am I Doing? Round 2 Dose Dense AC Chemo

I try to keep in mind that people I haven't met, facing chemo or deciding about chemo, might find themselves reading my blog, so I will try to post regularly about what it's like from my perspective. Friends and family who are checking on how I'm doing might get more information than they are looking for, but I'll try to keep it at a happy medium. Of course, anyone with a question can email me or post a question in the comments.

My first round of chemo was very exhausting, with nausea and headache for the first two days, and vomiting on the first night, which is unusual. I had about 5 days of fatigue so powerful that it was a big effort to sit up. My appetite was fine by day 3, and I developed an itchy rash on my chest and a couple days of knee pain from the Neulasta injection. At the nurse's suggestion I took Claritin to ease the discomfort. Overall, I had a pretty easy time of it. During round one I also had 3 hypnotherapy sessions to teach me tools to use, myself, as well as one session of acupuncture and one reiki session.

When you get a chemo infusion you also get a whole cocktail of other meds to reduce discomfort. In my case, I'd been given Decadron (steroid for 4 days), Compazine (anti-emetic every 6 hours, which I took for 5 days), and Ativan (as backup for nausea or sleep aid). I was advised to take anti-nausea meds continuously for the first few days, as nausea is easier to prevent than it is to manage once it presents itself. As soon as I stopped taking the Compazine, my energy began to return.

For round two we took a different approach to fighting nausea. They gave me Decadron again, Emend for 3 days, Zofran for 4 days, and Ativan as backup. I'm grateful to the nurse for mentioning to me that food aversions might develop, and that some patients have had good results by taking half an Ativan under the tongue just before eating, to separate the brain/nausea connection. This time around I have had more difficulty with food aversion, and this approach has helped so that I can remain properly nourished. So far I've had a lot more energy using these meds than I did the last round (the volume of writing in this blog is probably a good indicator of my well-being). I have much less dizziness and am able to do more things for myself around the house, but I still don't feel well enough to drive yet at Day 4. This time I began taking Claritin on Day 1 and will for one week, which has prevented the rash and helped with the bone pain so far. I have developed "chemo-flush", which looks like sunburn on my face, chest, and surgery breast. I'm keeping an eye on my temperature as directed, to make sure the breast redness isn't related to infection.

Overall so far, round two has been more comfortable than round one. I'm using my hypnotherapy skills several times a day. I will have acupuncture twice this week and a reiki session in my own home tomorrow. I'll probably try to fit one or both into next week as well.