My Lemons: Chemotherapy

Friends, I am on the home stretch of my chemo treatments!! I am a little in shock at how fast it has all gone, which I suppose is a good thing. If I am being honest this whole process has been a bit of a whirlwind. Again I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not. On the positive side, I haven’t had a chance to overthink anything so there’s that.

My first chemo treatment was on February 3rd. I kicked off my first of four treatments of AC (doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide) also known as the “red devil”. It’s called this because of its red color, also for making you feel like a bag of garbage.

With every treatment, I had 3 days of heavy anti-nausea meds that worked like magic. The only time I felt sick was the first treatment, I didn’t stay on top of the “as needed” anti-nausea and felt gross all night. But other than that side effects were pretty manageable.

After treatment for about 5 days, I’d be in my chemo-cave. I was tired, groggy, and felt like I was in a fog. I also had this weird metal taste in my mouth that made even coffee taste weird. By the 5th day, I’d feel kind of like I had the flu, and mostly just frustrated because I wanted to feel normal and was over being a sloth.

By the 6th day, it was like a light was switched on and I was back to “normal” albeit low energy. It was like getting over a hangover. It felt so good to just feel normal, not great but normal.

I should also mention that on the day after chemo I take a shot in my stomach to help my body produce more white blood cells. It goes into my bone marrow and causes my bones to be achy. This amazing drug is part of the reason I can do my treatment every two weeks, otherwise, it would have been dragged out over 12 weeks so that I had a longer time to recoup.

After my 4 treatments of the AC chemo, I have switched to paclitaxel. In the weirdest of ways, I was excited to change things up. Although it came with its own anxiety around how my body would react, I was over the AC chemo.

Paclitaxel is a less aggressive chemo (AC being the most) but it still had its list of side effects. During my first treatment, there was a chance I could have a major allergic reaction. Thankfully this didn’t happen to me. This chemo can also cause nerve damage to the ends of my fingers and toes, that’s why in pictures you might’ve noticed I have them in bags of ice. This is to lessen the flow of blood, so far it’s working really well. Lastly, this chemo makes me more achy and sore.

So far after two treatments, I am feeling really good. This chemo doesn’t knock me out. I actually have more energy and I find the more I move the less I notice the aches and pains.

Best part, I go in for my second to LAST treatment tomorrow!! Which means I pretty much only have one more to go. At the Tom Baker Centre, when you finish chemo you get to ring a bell. And let me tell you, I’m going to ring the shit outta that bell!