Chemo stuff

I thought I might post some of what is going on physically during the chemo treatment so that others starting chemo may find it helpful, or not.  Before chemo even started I had been extremely fatigued with little to no energy, no appetite and weight loss.  It almost felt like when you start to get the flu bug.  Chemo began right after Christmas of 2010.  My chemo regimen is R-CHOP X 8 every 3 weeks.  The first round took about 7 hours from start to finish.  Each drug is given individually until finished then the next.  I take the P or Prednisone by mouth at home for 5 days.  Rituxan takes the longest to finish and is my first drug I'm given.  I'm also given benadryl through my port that is equivalent to 2 pills at home.  I usually fall asleep pretty quickly and sleep only and hour or 2.  During treatments I can watch TV, read, play games or whatever and last time Clay went out and brought my lunch back.  The nurses watch me very closely, taking my vitals every 1-2 hours.  The first time I had Rituxan I started to have a frog in my throat type of feeling and my scalp began to itch, so they stopped it and gave me a steroid, which cleared those side effects right up, and began the Rituxan once again.  The 2nd round I didn't have any problems at all with it.  After all of the drugs are given I'm free to leave, which felt kind of strange thinking okay now you can leave with all of those toxins running through my body.  The day of treatments I'm usually just tired from all of the activity.  The side effects don't seem to begin until about 5-6 days after treatment, well vomiting anyway and only lasts about 1-2 days.  Being sick from chemo is not the same as the flu.  I just don't hold food down very well but continue to eat and have an appetite.  A few day after the first treatment my fingertips became numb and still are, I've gotten used to it.  My hair didn't start to come out until 2 weeks after the first treatment.  I decided to shave my head instead of waiting to see how much would fall out. Have a shaved head made my head tender and it took a couple of weeks to toughen up. After the 2nd treatment the short nubs began to fall out and it was a little itchy.  I'm still getting used to being bald and I'm hoping my eyelashes and eye brows stay in place, we'll see.  Also after the first treatment I became extremely emotional and seemed like I was crying ALL the time, not fun.  The nurse called in Ativan which really helped but, has a side effect of nausea, so I take it when absolutely necessary.  They have also put me on Compazine for nausea when I need it.  Another thing I have noticed is my thought process is a little slower right now and many refer to it as "chemo brain".  I'm sure it will improve once I'm finished.  My 2nd treatment didn't not keep me down as long as the 1st one did. I am getting about 2 weeks of decent days to function.  I still really struggle with fatigue and don't do very much at all.  I am thankful for an amazing husband who takes such wonderful care of me and puts up with a lot!!  I think it's more draining for him some days than it is for me.  Chemo is so much harder than I ever really knew, but it's doable.  I am hoping each treatment gets easier and easier.  I hope this is helpful to anyone that may just be curious or has cancer.  I will periodically continue to post as things  come up or change.  Enjoy the day, it's all we have!!