Chemo Treatments #2 and #3

So, here I am again to tell you about my second and third chemo treatments.  Really, they were not much different from the first one other than I had to do blood work and see the nurse practitioner on the same day.  The treatment went a little faster as well.  Instead of taking the whole time, it took about an hour or so less just to get the chemo but having blood work done and seeing the nurse practitioner took up some time.

Getting these treatments is almost like a whole work day in the amount of hours that I am there at the doctor's office.  I go in at about 8:00 a.m. or 8:30 a.m. to get started and usually finish up around 3:30 p.m. or 4:00 p.m..  Plus, I cannot drive to the treatments myself as I get Benadryl and another medicine that makes me drowsy.  I have been lucky to have some great friends and family to take me to my treatments.  They have stayed most of the time with me but I have given them the option to drop me off and then pick me back up if they want to do so.  I do not want to hog someone else's whole day if they need to do something as well that day.

The treatments have been sped up a bit since the first one.  The first treatment they were mainly watching to see if I had any kind of reaction to the treatment itself.  I did okay and now it is full steam ahead on the treatment! The one difference I can tell you is that I get REALLY drowsy.  I will nod off from time to time but that seems to be a pretty normal thing to do judging from the other patients who are there getting their chemo as well.  I do have some conversations with others there and my friend who brought me but I am so "loopy" that I am thinking that I hope the conversation makes sense to them.  It is weird to be hoping that what I am saying is making sense, hoping it is following along with the conversation.  So far, no one has looked at me too weird while having a conversation.

Well, chemo side effects are not great but they are not as terrible as I thought they would be.  I will save this topic for another post.

Thanks for reading!!

Jenn

Chemo Treatment #1

Time for my first chemo treatment and I am nervous. I think that I am nervous because this is my first time. My chemo treatments are done in the same office building as my doctor so this is nice!!

For the first treatment, I will receive everything slowly so that the nurses can monitor my progress and check for any reactions I may have to any of the medicines. It is also so nice to have my sister with me!!

Since I get Benadryl as part of the treatment, it is recommended that someone else drive you home. So glad of that!! I was sleepy and definitely not able to drive very good!!

Also, my hair will start to fall out about 18 to 21 days after this first treatment. Not excited about that. I will discuss the hair in a different post as it can be a little bit of a freak out moment (at least for me).

After the first treatment, the medicine will not be given as slowly. Wonder how that will be?

So, I will post about my hair in a different post (some did come out) but the first treatment was not as bad as I had built it up to be. Thank goodness!!

Okay, I will have more for you all later!! Thanks for stopping by and reading!!

Jenn

Reflections on Life So Far

Last night I was not sleeping so well.  It was probably due to a nice long nap in the late afternoon but I just did not sleep well last night.  I had some time to reflect on life so far.  I hope this is something that some people with cancer will do.  I had those thoughts of doing things over, what would I do differently and how happy am I right where I am now.

Would I do anything over as I look back on my life? Sure, there are a few things I would do differently.  But if I did, would I be where I am now? I am not sure.  I may have been living somewhere else with a different job, maybe a family, maybe not a family, hopefully with some great friends.  Who knows?!

What would I have done differently in my life? I probably would have tried harder to finish college the first time.  Maybe avoided a few guys as well.  However, that means I may not be where I am today.

Overall, I am pretty happy with my life.  I have friends who are pretty awesome, I did finish college, I did get married, I have a job that I actually like going to every day, I have a great boss and work with some great people. Do not get me wrong, I have a few things I hated doing now that I look back on it but I would not be where I am today if everything had gone just peachy.  Maybe it is those little lessons that we look back on and think, "Oh why did I do that?" that makes us who we are today? If we had not of messed up like we did, would we still be happy? I try not to think like that.  Yes, I had a few bumps but I do like where I am.  Are there things I would like to improve upon? Umm, yes!! But I have just got to start working on those things.

So, maybe while I do have a few regrets, things are okay in the grand scheme of things.  I just hope this summer I do some stuff I had been putting off.  Even if it is just on a smaller scale, I hope to get those things done.  Maybe you can too!!

Thanks for listening to my ramblings!!

Jenn