The Chemo Chronicles - 8.1.08

Whew, let me tell you.  That was an AWESOME two weeks off of chemo.  But, I did have to go back on Friday to start my 14-day cycle again.  During my 14 days off, I pretty much started to feel normal again.  My appetite calmed down, the chemobrain went away within a couple days (for the most part), and my night sweats stopped!  Yup, that’s right.  They straight up stopped.  I think it was the Prednisone doing it, we’ll see if I start having them again during this go-round.

I was excited to have Jan, my very first chemo nurse, again.  As with the other nurses to this point, this was her first time giving me the Nitrogen Mustard. Read more

The Chemo Chronicles: 7.11.08

This was some chemo treatment, let me tell you.  Here it is Monday night, and I am just now writing about it - 3 days later.  This was my worst treatment yet.  I don’t feel that I can fairly complain, as my treatment to now have gone without a hitch - the main complaints being thrush once, fatigue and indigestion.  But this one has been very hard to deal with.  Read more

T - Minus 3 Days…

I had my chemo last Thursday, the day before Independence Day.  I was in bed all weekend, minus my 2am kitchen cleaning surge and the little bit I was able to stay out of bed to clean my room on Saturday.

Last Thursday was my first ever injection of the mustard.  It was okay, but I think it took a bigger toll on me than anything else has to this point.  I’ve experienced chemobrain super early this time, it usually takes a few days, I noticed effects as early as Friday afternoon. Read more

Chemobrain…

Yep, it’s back.  I feel it coming on slowly, but surely.  For my chemo treatments, I have 14 days on (with an IV infusion at the cancer center once a week - and oral medications, 6 pills a day for 14 days) and then 14 days off.  The past 2 weeks have been nice, seems like the chemobrain went away somewhat, but I feel it creeping on again since I started chemo again 2 days ago.  I came across a page from MayoClinic.com, which I will quote, so y’all know exactly what I’m talking about here.  I will add the link at the bottom.  Don’t want anyone to think I’m stealing anything here…

What is chemobrain?

The terms “chemobrain” and “chemofog” refer to cognitive changes during and after cancer diagnosis and treatment. Though these terms imply a relation to chemotherapy, it isn’t clear that chemotherapy is responsible. Women with breast cancer who underwent chemotherapy were the first group to bring these symptoms to light, as more started mentioning their symptoms to their doctors. It isn’t clear whether chemotherapy, or other factors such as stress and hormonal fluctuations, cause the changes in memory and thinking. What is clear is that some people with cancer do notice increased difficulties with certain mental tasks during and after cancer treatment.

In general, researchers have found that chemotherapy can affect your cognitive abilities in the following ways:

• Word finding. You might find yourself reaching for the right word in conversation.
• Memory. You might experience short-term memory lapses, such as not remembering where you put your keys or what you were supposed to buy at the store.
• Multitasking. Many jobs require you to manage multiple tasks during the day. Multitasking is important at work as well as at home — for example, talking with your kids and making dinner at the same time. Chemotherapy may affect how well you’re able to perform multiple tasks at once.
• Learning. It might take longer to learn new things. For example, you might find you need to read paragraphs over a few times before you get the meaning.
• Processing speed. It might take you longer to do tasks that were once quick and easy for you.

Here is the link to the original article.

The Chemo Chronicles: 7.3.08

On July 3, 2008, I had my 5th chemo treatment.  This was my first treatment on the full, official MOPP regimen.  My first two treatments included ABVD, which I was taken off of because my pulmonary (lung) function tests showed that I could not receive the B-portion of the regimen which is the medication Bleomycin.  Bleomycin has the tendency to be extremely toxic to the lungs, and they feared that my lungs may become fibrotic and it would damage my lungs further than they already are.  The next two treatments I received were of MOPP, but since Nitrogen Mustard had to be special ordered (I am the first one to ever receive it at the cancer center), they had to substitute the Nitrogen Mustard with Cytoxan.  So here we are at my 5th treatment, receiving the full MOPP treatment which consists of Nitrogen Mustard, Oncovin, Procarbazine and Prednisone.  The picture of me is pre-infusion.  I am always happy to be at the cancer center as everyone there has always been more than helpful, kind, courteous and has gone out of their way to make me comfortable.

A nurse, Diann, had seen my chart and come to the waiting room to get me.  She said that she knew who I was, but since she hadn't had me as a patient before she thought it would be nice to have me as a patient and get to know me.  She ended up being an awesome nurse, and was attentive and contientious of the new treatment.  She mentioned that even though she had never given Nitrogen Mustard, neither had any other nurse there at the cancer center, that she remembered there was a question on her nursing boards about Nitrogen Mustard.  She mentioned she was excited to give it to me. 

I also had a visitor that day.  Earlier in the week, at a small class that was held at the cancer center, I met a survivor of Hodgkin's.  He had all of his treatments there at the cancer center and still actively participates in things going on there.  We got to talking after the class and he told me that there are other Hodgkin's patients that communicate outside of the cancer center.  Brandon mentioned another gentleman named Max that he talks to regularly.  Brandon asked when my next treatment was and said he would come.  He actually made it!  It was nice to see someone else there that understood what I was going through and understood what was being done to me.  We exchanged stories about symptoms, prediagnosis and then he went on to tell me about things that had gone on with him and ultimately his bone marrow transplant.  He was able to harvest his own bone marrow to receive the transplant.  His story was fascinating to me, I would love to hear some of your stories and to learn from everyone that reads this about what types of things you have gone through and might be going through.

So, anyhow…  Back to the treatment.  Both of the medications that I take through an IV infusion, Onconvin and Nitrogen Mustard, are both done through IV push.  When I was getting ABVD, I would be at the cancer center upwards of 5 hours, but this time I was only there just short of two hours.  I had to get my vitals of course, and then they give premeds which consists of a strong anti-emetic, to keep you from getting nauceous, and dexadron, a steroid that helps to keep you from having a reaction to the chemotherapy itself.  Diann also let a 500cc bag of normal saline drip, just to hydrate me and to flush me well because of the Nitrogen Mustard.  She told me that the Nitrogen Mustard must be pushed as soon as it is mixed.  She infused it over 4 minutes - which it is recommended to be pushed between 3 and 5 minutes.  The 4 minutes seemed to work fine with me, causing no adverse effects.  I was nervous though, because she did bring a syringe of Benadryl to the chair-side with her.  No nurse had done it before, I thought there was something I needed to be worried about because she was anticipating some sort of adverse response or effects.  She assured me that she always has it with her just in case.  I took her word for it and let her continue.  Honestly, I thought there would be this IV bag hanging there with some dark yellowish, thick goo that would be dripping into my viens, but as you can see in the picture it was nothing like that at all.

The Nitrogen Mustard hasn't made me sick at all.  I have been lucky to not get sick ever from any chemo treatments.  They say that each chemo treatment may be different, and I might tolerate it differently from day to day.  But all in all each treatment has been pretty much the same.  Each one tends to wipe me out a little bit.  For the first few hours after chemo I have a HUGE surge of energy, followed by a night's good sleep (with the help of temazapam, of course) and then the next few days I experience moderately severe heartburn.  Other than that, aside from the rock-bottom blood levels, I haven't had any bad experience from my treatments.  The indigestion does seem quite a bit worse with this treatment, but I am not sick…  Knock on wood.

So I am off to lay back down.  I need to do some more resting - it can only do a body good!  If you're reading this and are on MOPP, I would love to hear from you.  I would like to see how your treatments are going or have gone, if you were on it previously.

And if you have never been on MOPP, I would still love to hear from you!