Chemo # 1 down

Hey everyone,

So, this past weekend my Mom was in town. That was really a cool treat. It was nice to have her here for my very first Chemo Treatment on Friday, especially since my Dad was out of town on business. Ultimately, I would have been alright if neither of them could make it, but it was comforting having someone there.

The good news is, it only took an hour and a half, as opposed to the three hours that I was expecting it to take. That was especially nice since I pulled out my laptop, only to realize it was completely dead. Good job Josh! Oh well.

Chemo is interesting, to say the least. The drug combination I am getting is called ABVD. I'll explain more detail about them in a later post, but it's essentially 4 different types of poison being injected into your body, in a very accurately timed and calculated fashion... and one of them makes you pee red right after. THAT was the interesting part.

While getting chemo, you are in a room that has about 20 or 30 recliners placed around the perimeter, next to which are the IV machines that people get hooked up to. There were a few others getting treatment that day, some of which looked better than others. One lady next to me seemed to be on her first treatment as well. I think she might have breast cancer. She seemed really scared. I think I'm going to bring her cookies next time I go. I feel like I have a responsibility to be the one in that room that is always smiling and laughing and joking... making everyone feel better about the situation that they are in.

So, the only thing that I felt during my treatment was a really weird feeling of being flush and unsettled, for about 10 minutes right in the middle. Other than that it was no sweat. Afterwards, my mom and I went to the Crab Pot, and I wolfed down a pound of crab. The steroid they gave me right before chemo made me pee a lot, but other than that I had virtually no physical side effects the entire weekend. I was out and about, shopping, and going to Pike's Place Market without any real energy drop at all. Mentally, though, was another story. My main side effect was chemo brain. I have read about this elsewhere, but I didn't really think that it would happen to me, or that it was even a real thing. Chemo apparently has the ability to make your brain really scrambled. It's pretty much like having ADD. I couldn't make a decision on anything to save my life. It took me hours to decide which shoe organizer to buy, I couldn't pick a restaurant that I wanted to eat at, and I had the hardest time focusing my attention on anything other that a movie or TV. And all the while, I was super hyper. I couldn't stop touching things, and trying to clean everything. I felt like I needed to be super productive, but I couldn't figure out which thing I wanted to do. It was very bizarre.

So, my Mom left yesterday, and my Dad and I had dinner, and I was starting to feel better. No ADD, and I was calming down a bit. However, this morning I woke up with something almost comparable to flu symptoms. I wouldn't really describe it like a flu since I didn't have a fever, but I was sore and achy all over for pretty much the whole day, and my mouth and tongue are very sore. I talked to the doctor, and this is normal. I just need to watch it and make sure I don't get any worse, since at this point in time, my body is not producing enough white blood cells to fight off infection. Thanks chemo! This is extremely frustrating, since I was really hoping to work out today for the first time in two weeks, but I am very tired, and I think my body is telling me to rest. I'm gonna listen this once... but be warned Cancer. I'm not gonna let you tell ME when I can and can't workout!

I have a feeling I am going to be a big pain in the ass for my cancer.