Saturday
Feb022013
Chemo Round 43 (and Radiation Rounds 1 and 2)
Saturday, February 2, 2013 at 8:45AM
I know it’s been a while since I posted last, and I apologize for that. As always, the reason was not health-related but schedule-related (you know your buddy WunderGlo is always on the move). I’m here now, though, and it’s time to let you know how chemo round 43 and my first two rounds of radiation went. Spoiler alert (since I've made you wait long enough to hear from me): everything went well.
Chemo, as always, went smoothly. I am back on Oxaliplatin, which gave me a little bit of trouble around Chemo Round 7 (oh, the good old days of single digit chemo rounds!!) with a bit of an allergic reaction, but this time, I had no such reaction. I got hit with a little dose of Benadryl as one of my pre-meds (to make sure I didn’t have an allergic reaction to the Oxali) and slept through a good part of chemo this time around. Even though I had gotten my FOLFIRI infusions down to a science, I knew that wading back into the world of FOLFOX would take a little patience and more time to rest. I was absolutely cruising through my rounds of FOLFIRI – working, working out, hydrating, and bouncing back quickly – and now, I need to listen to my body, take my time, and figure out the best way to sail through my FOLFOX regimen.
In general, the round went quite well. I felt great on Monday and Tuesday (which was a good thing, since we had an event for the upcoming Wunder Project at O’Melveny on Tuesday). On Wednesday, I felt fine in the morning and then fatigue and general grossness set in during the afternoon and evening. It wasn’t too bad, though – I just really didn’t want to eat or drink anything. So I slept. Like a rock.
Thursday was better, and by yesterday, I was back to my old tricks. I always remembered that FOLFOX took its hit on Wednesday and Thursday, while FOLFIRI weighed on me on Tuesday and Wednesday. Either way, I’m 100% come Friday, and then I can’t be stopped on the days after that. Interesting things you learn when you’re a chemo veteran like me.
And radiation. Man, radiation was a breeze. So far, I’ve had two rounds – on Thursday and Friday – and it’s been pretty fun. I just relax on this moving board thing, listen to the chilled out music the tech has on (Hawaiian music on Thursday, some relaxed pop music on Friday), and wait as the techs arrange my body correctly, write on my chest with multi-colored Sharpies, and skip out of the room just before the radiation machine gives me my dose. The actual dosage time takes 40 seconds – 20 seconds with the machine focusing its main laser beam on my chest, then 20 seconds with it shooting at me through my back. No pain, no discomfort, no side effects. I hear I might get a little fatigued as treatment goes on, but we all know that my fatigue is a normal person’s normal, so I’m not nervous.
My new treatment regimen is going great. I’m feeling strong, keeping very busy with The Wunder Project, and quite sure that the cancer in my body had a very tough time this week. And that’s the way we like it.
Chemo, as always, went smoothly. I am back on Oxaliplatin, which gave me a little bit of trouble around Chemo Round 7 (oh, the good old days of single digit chemo rounds!!) with a bit of an allergic reaction, but this time, I had no such reaction. I got hit with a little dose of Benadryl as one of my pre-meds (to make sure I didn’t have an allergic reaction to the Oxali) and slept through a good part of chemo this time around. Even though I had gotten my FOLFIRI infusions down to a science, I knew that wading back into the world of FOLFOX would take a little patience and more time to rest. I was absolutely cruising through my rounds of FOLFIRI – working, working out, hydrating, and bouncing back quickly – and now, I need to listen to my body, take my time, and figure out the best way to sail through my FOLFOX regimen.
In general, the round went quite well. I felt great on Monday and Tuesday (which was a good thing, since we had an event for the upcoming Wunder Project at O’Melveny on Tuesday). On Wednesday, I felt fine in the morning and then fatigue and general grossness set in during the afternoon and evening. It wasn’t too bad, though – I just really didn’t want to eat or drink anything. So I slept. Like a rock.
Thursday was better, and by yesterday, I was back to my old tricks. I always remembered that FOLFOX took its hit on Wednesday and Thursday, while FOLFIRI weighed on me on Tuesday and Wednesday. Either way, I’m 100% come Friday, and then I can’t be stopped on the days after that. Interesting things you learn when you’re a chemo veteran like me.
And radiation. Man, radiation was a breeze. So far, I’ve had two rounds – on Thursday and Friday – and it’s been pretty fun. I just relax on this moving board thing, listen to the chilled out music the tech has on (Hawaiian music on Thursday, some relaxed pop music on Friday), and wait as the techs arrange my body correctly, write on my chest with multi-colored Sharpies, and skip out of the room just before the radiation machine gives me my dose. The actual dosage time takes 40 seconds – 20 seconds with the machine focusing its main laser beam on my chest, then 20 seconds with it shooting at me through my back. No pain, no discomfort, no side effects. I hear I might get a little fatigued as treatment goes on, but we all know that my fatigue is a normal person’s normal, so I’m not nervous.
My new treatment regimen is going great. I’m feeling strong, keeping very busy with The Wunder Project, and quite sure that the cancer in my body had a very tough time this week. And that’s the way we like it.
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