Chemo # 1

I am officially a Stage IV cancer patient.

Although I don't have it anywhere else in my body, because it has left the regional zone of the breast and is now in the lymph nodes in my neck, it is Stage IV. Still freaks me out that it got that far without me noticing, but as all the doctors say, no need to look backwards.

So with my VW in the shop (cost to fix at $2000), I went to my first chemo appointment. I have some doctor friends who might be interested in the cocktail, so I will go into details at the end of this post for those interested.

It took three hours total. Here I am at the beginning, quite happy, and quite un-nauseous. They first give you an anti-nausea medicine, and then some sort of steroid. Not quite sure what or why (I can hear doctor friends clicking their tongues. Don't worry, I will find out). Then I get a dose of AC, which takes about an hour and a half.

During that time, they give me free Cheez-Its (MY FAVORITE!) and Famous Amos Cookies, and party mix and whatever I want to eat. And juice and water of course.

I only got a little dizzy during chemo, and was pretty much fine, just tired until I got in the car. My treatment center is 30 miles away from my house, and I guess after chemo that is a long way to drive on a sick tummy.So I got home, tried to eat a little, and promptly stuck my face in the toilet to clear out all the yummy snacks I had several hours before.

Now, until I got cancer, I thought chemo patients got so skinny because they were nauseous all the time. Not so, the reason that they don't eat is because food tastes like shit. Basically, everything tastes like foul iron. It is horrible, even my mom's yummy spaghetti was hard to get down. I could chew it in the front of my mouth, but as soon as it started going down my throat to swallow, it because the worst tasting slime I ever had. It isn't that we can't eat, it is just that it tastes horrible.

Why is this? Basically, they have no clue. But almost everything tastes bitter, like unripened olives.

Now in my case, although things still tasted horrible the next day, by afternoon, my taste buds were back to normal, and today I ate a juicy cheese burger and fries, and although it sat heavy, I was able to keep it down. So of course I am thinking, wow, lucky me, I am going to be one of the ones that chemo has very little or no effect.

Wrong. Apparently, most people experience low side effects in the first couple cycles, but then things get worse.

One thing is that I am quite tired. I took the dog for a walk, and crashed out for 2 hours. Which was delicious! Today I didn't nap, but I can barely keep my eyes open. And the reason I didn't nap was because I went for another hair cut!

Okay, well, enough for now, I can't keep my eyes open. The chemo cocktail recipie is going to have to wait, doctor friends.