1st One Down

We got to the doctors at 9:15 this morning. What a beautiful day outside...I love the SUN!! It will make these treatments so much more pleasant than the awful snow and dreary winter...Anyway...

The nurse got my iv going and the very first thing she gave me was a bag of benadryl. The benadryl is needed to help with the side effects of the drug they will give next. That bag took a few minutes to go through my system and crazy enough, I almost had the most side effects from this. I started getting soooo woozy and lightheaded. The room started spinning and I was barely able to keep my head up. The nurses told me to go to sleep for a few minutes and that should help with that. Ok..not a problem...I was so tired anyway(which is a side effect). Ryan said I crashed for about 30 minutes and I did feel better.

They started the next drug about 45 minutes later. I'm not sure of the drug's name, but this is the drug they worry the most about. I can have an allergic type reaction and they had to give me this slowly. 30 minutes passed and I was doing well, so well in fact they speed up the drip. A few minutes into that, I started getting a really itchy throat, ears and head. The nurse said, lets just watch you for a little bit. The itching never got worse...so they sped up the drip again!:) So the drip that should have taken 4-5 hours took 3:)

The next two drugs were nothing. So instead of finishing up at 5, I was done by 3:00!! YEA!! They said I am an ideal patient...no reactions..Yea me:)

They gave me an anti nausea medicine that should stay in my system for 4 days, so hopefully no nausea. I do feel EXTREMELY tired right now...I can tell I need to go and lay down, but I feel good. And even better, my arm is already feeling better. Dr. Beck said that I may be able to notice a pain drop within hours of starting chemo...and I truly have. I can use my arm more now than even this morning...what a miracle drug!!!

And for Ryan...He finally relaxed more today than I've seen him in 2 weeks. He said that he can finally relax now that he knows how this process works and how I'll handle it. He is even willing to go back to work tomorrow;) It's not nearly as scary as we had worked up in our minds. Today was a good day.

Honestly, I am so grateful to be alive in this day and age. The advances they have made in cancer treatments is unreal. We spoke with the nurses who have been in this field for over 10 years and they said the advances are life changing. They, too, are in awe of how much this process has improved. The anti nausea medicine has been one of the biggest helps and they said I'll get a shot tomorrow to help rebuild my white blood cells...they also said this shot is amazing (and costs more than an ounce of gold!!). So grateful...So grateful for everything!

And for ALL the good luck wishes, notes, cards, hugs, flowers, EVERYTHING....thank you to everyone....I TRULY appreciate you and your love and concern!!! You make this a much easier process:)