Adventures in Chemo

I have two chemo drugs; one a pill (Xeloda) and one an infusion (Oxaliplatin). I have to take four pills twice a day for the Xeloda. This morning I was hungry, and had my English muffins and juice before the pills. They recommend taking the pills with milk or food. About an hour later I was vomiting and quickly took some Zofran to stop the nausea. I didn't think that the side effects would kick in so quickly, but it might have been stress or nerves. Dr. Greene said that some people do react that quickly, but he agreed that it could have been nerves. Either way, not the best way to start the day.

I drove to the clinic and had my lab work done, then met with Dr. Greene. He said I'm a bit anemic, and that if it gets worse they'll give me a shot of Procrit to boost it. Then I went in to get my Oxaliplatin infusion. They're using my portacath, so I didn't have to go through an old-fashioned IV. The infusion took about 2 hours, and other than being boring, I didn't notice any side effects (during the infusion).

When I got home, I quickly discovered the main side effect of Oxaliplatin: intolerance to cold. I tried to drink a glass of apple juice, and the pain was amazing. It felt like I was going to have lock-jaw. So no more cold drinks, ice cream, etc. I also need to be careful touching anything that is cold. Funny having this type of chemo at the start of a Nebraska winter...

The good thing is that this makes the lingering pain from surgery seem not so bad. That has been better each day over the last week, and I feel like the end is in site for that. Then again, I'm still taking a lot of pain pills. Next week I'll try and see if I can throttle those back in the day time. I don't want to attempt that at night until I'm getting solid sleep.

I'm awfully tired. Dr. Greene said this wasn't one of the side effects of either drug, but www.webmd.com disagrees. Stress could be playing a big role in that, but it's not like I'm getting 8 hours of sleep either. Oh well.

Not drinking cold beverages for four months is going to be irritating. With the wide variety of foods I eat, (ha ha) at least I can still eat what I want except for desserts.

The infusion center has comfortable recliners, and you can watch TV (listening with wireless headphones). Every now and then a nurse walks by with a tray of snacks, kind of like an airline attendent. They try to make you as comfortable as possible, and watch you for any serious side effects.

The funny thing is, at the clinic I'm normal. The majority of people have or have had cancer. So if you feel like talking, you don't have to explain a ton of details that a layman would need. The sad thing is that there are so many people there. Young, old, white/black/asian/latino, male/female. The real outsiders seem to be the family members who come to provide support. They are naturally distressed, and scared, and out of their comfort zone. I wish the clinic had some sort of support system for family members. There are outside support groups, but those are meant more for patients. Being a caregiver has to be a difficult task. Jen has been so wonderful and supportive these last 5 months, but I know it's taken its toll on her.

love,

Cj