I flew back in from Seattle on the 29th of May. I spent a lot of time at the airport in Portland, where I had a layover, because SFO was delaying flights coming in due to weather. I was supposed to arrive at 10am but didn't get in until around 2pm. My mom and brother were on another flight coming to the Bay Area with me. They were delayed as well but we got in around the same time. My friend Taylor picked me up from the airport and I had him drive me straight to the Kaiser in South San Francisco so I could get my pre chemo blood work. My blood work came back all good and I was set to do chemo the next day.
I had my little brother drive me to my chemo appointment which was at 9:15am. I didn't pack anything with me this time. I figured I would sleep and play on my phone. This time I had Beth as my nurse. I really like Beth. She is super nice. She hooked up my IV and started my fluids. Then I got my Epirubicin and Cisplatin. She also squeezed my Aredia treatment in, which is for my bones, since I get that every 4 weeks and I was due for it. I was in the chair again for 6 hours. I wore my Wonder Woman shirt and nothing on my head. I displayed my short hair proudly.
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| Nurse Beth putting the IV in |
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| Chilling in the chair |
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| Epirubicin time! |
I figured this was a typical chemo, although my oncologist had reduced the dosage since my counts from the 14th had showed my immune system was too low, and I went home as usual. I had my brother take me to Jamba Juice on the way home and I picked up a smoothie with a protein shot. I got home and snuggled up into bed. I decided to take some Ativan to knock me out so I could nap. I don't know what happened while I was asleep but I woke up feeling like CRUD! I had a really bad case of chemo brain. This is real. My mind was so foggy. And when I would get up to go to the bathroom, I would run into walls and was off balance. At one point, I didn't even make it to the bathroom in time and wet my pants. I felt so miserable. I didn't understand why the chemo was hitting me so hard. I had not experienced this in my previous infusions. The video at the top, I had created that night. I cried a lot being in pain. I felt like giving up at one point. All I could do was take pain medication and sleep, hoping that the next day I would feel better. Thursday was a bit better but I was still miserable. I called Fidelity to see if I could withdraw my 401K money but I couldn't. It's stuck in there. That was discouraging. I don't know why I was worrying about finances the day after chemo. That was just a bad idea. By afternoon time, I took some more Ativan to help with my nausea and to just put me to sleep. The chemo brain was still in full effect and I wasn't eating much. I had my little brother go to the smoothie place in the mall and get me something to sip on. I had my moments where I was feeling ok but overall, I was having a hard time.
Sunday rolled around and I was still feeling uneasy. My sister had gotten everyone tickets to the comedy show for Gabriel Iglesias at the Improv in San Jose. I wasn't feeling well enough to go so I had to stay home. I was totally jealous when she had arranged for a Bentley limo to drive them to the show! My sister was able to talk to Gabriel Iglesias and tell him that I was sick and unable to make it to the show. He kindly gave my sister an autographed cardboard cut out for me. That was so nice of him! He also made a video on her cell phone giving me a shout out.
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| Mom and little brother with my autographed cut out in the limo. |
By Sunday evening, I am still miserable. I couldn't sleep because I felt like there was something pushing on my lungs. I knew I had fluid in my belly that I had to get rid of. I had to sleep on my side that night with lots of pillows propping me up. Breathing was so uncomfortable. I kept freaking myself out that maybe I should go to the ER but I wanted to wait it out. If I could just hold out until 8:30am when my oncologist got to the office, I could call her and she would be able to advise me on what to do. I really didn't want to spend $100 on the ER copay and the other issue was that my brother and mom were flying out in the morning so I didn't want to worry them by going to the hospital. I didn't sleep much, but as soon as the clock turned to 8:30am, I called my oncologist and had the medical assistant tell her how I was in a lot of pain and to call me back asap.
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