Chemo, Round 2

When I was diagnosed with cancer, I looked for blogs written by people who had a similar diagnosis to see what I could learn. I found two kinds of blogs - the kind where the person posted about their entire experience after the fact; and the kind where the person posted at the beginning of their cancer experience, and then again at the end after they were in remission. I didn't find much out there about the experience in the middle. So I decided I would try to fill in that gap.

First, though, some reflections on the three weeks that made up Round 1. Psychologically, I like saying the "round" is over after I've had the chemo infusion, but that's not really how it works. The infusion is just the beginning, after which there are seven to ten days of recovery, wherein I experience all manner of side effects of varying intensity and obnoxiousness. Once I start to feel good again, though, things go really well!

My oncologist was happy when he heard I didn't have much nausea, and told me the first round is the hardest so things should get even easier in future rounds. I will believe him after I've been through a few more. :-) It's better to be prepared for the worst and then be pleasantly surprised, in my opinion, than to expect a good experience and then end up having a not-so-good one.

During my feeling-good days last week, I accepted a job. I'm really excited about it, and in truth, it's a miracle it happened at all. The best part is that it will give me something to keep my mind off the chemo side effects on the less good days, as well as keeping me occupied on the days I feel great. And when I beat cancer, I will already have a plan in place for what's next! After ten months of unemployment (and job hunting, and - in some minutes - wondering whether I was physically well enough to work), having work to do and being able to contribute to the general good in the world makes me really happy. Plus I get to work with some really awesome people - double bonus!

The first few days of work (at the beginning of this week) were great. They also happened to coincide perfectly with the hair on my head starting to thin and fall out... so that was an adventure. I could run my fingers through my hair and pull out a small handful at a time, over and over. (Don't worry. I didn't do this at work. Just in the evenings after I was home.) By the third day of hair-falling-out-ness, there were patchy bald places on my head, what was left was thin and static-y, and I was ready to be done with it. So I got out my hair cutting kit and cut what was left all down to 1/4 inch. Now I get to wear hats and head scarves - yay! (I might not love it once it gets hot, but I do now.) The hair that is left will fall out on its own over the next week or so, most likely. But now I don't have to worry about what to do with it.

Round 2 started on Thursday. I busted out my laptop and worked on some projects during the infusion. It was a little harder to focus for the first few minutes after the Benadryl kicked in (part of the pre-medication regimen), but other than that, I felt like I was really productive, and it made the time go by pretty quickly. Round 2 didn't take as long as round 1, since they didn't have to dose up the monoclonal antibody this time, so I was done in just under 4 hours. It will take about that long for all the other rounds, too. Two down, four to go!

So far, the side effects seem to be the same as last round, but I'm either handling them better or they are slightly less intense. Probably some of both; it helps a lot to know what to expect. That said, the worst of the recovery days will start tomorrow if the pattern continues, so I'm not to the hardest part yet. Keep an eye out for another post if you want to know how it really went. :-)

Special thanks to all my friends who are taking care of me this weekend. I couldn't do it without you. The visits, balloons, rides, and conversation make my cancer adventure more enjoyable.

In other news:

I bought a book today by my favorite 10-year-old author. I'm excited for it to come in the mail so I can read it. His last one was pretty neat, and I have heard good reviews on this book as well! You can find it on Lulu here.

And... the sun is shining! (It does that a lot in Arizona...) I love the feel of warm sun on my back. It makes me happy.