Mary shares her cancer diary - Part Four: Chemo: day 1, cycle 1
Mary Brookes, 52, was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in January 2016. She documented her ups and downs to share with her friends, and now she’s sharing titbits from her journal and chemo diary with you.
I slept pretty well last night - a bit of a surprise with what was happening today. I had a quick breakfast and then went to the gym for a workout with Lisa to get my head in the right space.
When I got home Peter had all my drugs laid out ready for me to take – no time to think about it now, just need to do what I need to do. We headed into Canopy Cancer Care for our 10.30am appointment.
I thought I was fine, but realised I was beginning to worry; out came the Rescue Remedy. As today was the first lot of treatment, everything was doubled for the loading doses and we didn’t really know how my body was going to react. Would it hurt when the infusion was connected to my porta cath? Would I get any possible listed reactions to the drugs? Peter kept saying I would be fine and I knew I would be but the unknown is scary.
We arrived in plenty of time for my appointment and sat in the waiting room, I couldn’t distract myself with a magazine, my mind just wouldn’t comply - the internal chatter was infuriating.
We were shown into a lovely little side room and the closest bathroom was pointed out – I was about to have a lot of fluid pumped into my body! My blood pressure and temperature were both checked before the nurse, Chelsea, talked me through what was going to happen. Then I was hooked up for the infusion. She asked me to take a deep breath and it was done. Relief. It didn’t hurt!
Chelsea first drew some liquid and blood from my port to ensure everything was working before connecting a bag of saline. The process goes like this: saline flush, Herceptin, saline flush, Pertuzumab [Perjeta], saline flush, docetaxel, saline flush. We then checked off the first bag of drugs -the Herceptin. It’s important that it isn’t exposed to light (Pertuzumab is the same) so a little black bag is put over it while it’s going through.
We checked all the drugs. This meant checking my name and D.O.B. for each bag, and also the expiry date of each drug. I had been told that this process is really important because there is no one-drug-fits-all policy anymore.
I had some morning tea while the saline was going through and wondered why I had been so worried - it wasn’t that bad. Once the first lot of saline had gone through Chelsea connected up the Herceptin. The rate of flow was quite slow as I needed to be monitored for any reaction. By this time Antoinette had arrived, which was a nice distraction, but suddenly I felt really cold. I just couldn’t get warm. Chelsea took my temperature which had fallen dramatically - not surprising, I suppose, when you consider the drugs are stored in the fridge! The air conditioning was turned to warm and I was wrapped in two thick blankets plus my cardigan. I will remember my socks next time!
Peter couldn’t believe how cold the area around my port was and apparently my lips did turn slightly blue. I didn’t feel too good, not sick or anything like that but just not quite right, I think it was just my body going into shock wondering what the devil I was doing filling it with drugs. The infusion was slowed further and I gradually warmed up although not enough to throw off the blankets. I did fall asleep at one stage, very briefly, and then Chelsea was swapping over the bags and I was having the saline flush.
I feel very fortunate to have had such a wonderful nurse who answered, what were probably silly questions, with a great deal of patience.
The second infusion - Pertuzumab (1 hr) - and then the third one - Docetaxel (1.5 hrs) - went well. The loading doses do take a long time as there is a lot of liquid to flush into my body and, of course, it has to be administered slowly. The whole process took about five hours. Peter got a bit worried about everything and my reaction to the drugs so he ended up staying for the whole process.
Thankfully everything else went fine. Can’t believe how many times I needed to wee though – I suppose all that fluid has to go somewhere.
I am so glad I had people with me; it made everything much more manageable and chatting was a good distraction. I had taken some colouring books with me but I didn’t get a chance to get them out. I’m sure there will be plenty of time for this over the next few days.
Once all the infusions had gone through, Chelsea checked me over again and gave me my Filgrastim injection with an ice pack (it has to be kept in the fridge). The chemo will hammer my white blood cell count - an unfortunate side effect - so the Filgrastim is given to stimulate my body to produce more white blood cells. I have to make an appointment for tomorrow with the nurse at my doctor’s surgery so that they can show Peter how to administer it, then we won’t need to go to the doctor’s every cycle. I certainly don’t want to be catching any infections. I’m determined to stay healthy throughout the treatment and continue going to work and the gym.
As we left, Chelsea advised that if we had any concerns at all we were to ring one of the numbers we had been given anytime, day or night, which was very reassuring.
It was nice to get home and just relax in my chair, it’s so nice getting spoilt by Peter and Sara and I’m not ashamed to say I’m making the most of it. I am feeling a little tired but otherwise no different after the chemotherapy. I hope it continues.