10/9/13 - 3rd Chemo Day

One More Chemo to Go!

Mikey, Me and Robyn - Hey, my eyes are going in different directions.

Monday I had my third chemo treatment. The traffic this time around was pretty good. No downed motorcycles along the way. We left at 7:30 am and got there at 9:10 am. Bud, Robyn and Mike came to this chemo day. It was nice having my whole family there. After the last fiasco, I requested the nurse I had on my first chemo - she was great. She got right into my vein with no problems and blood wasn't going everywhere this time around. She even had the cap screwed on correctly. What a treat to have someone that knows what they are doing! First up was an hour of Taxotere with no side effects. Next was an hour of Carboplatin with no side effects, and then came the Herceptin. For some reason the Herceptin makes me cold. She slowed down the dose to an hour this time and I didn't get the shakes like last time. It was all pretty uneventful. My liver enzymes were a little off on my blood test. My ALT test was elevated. The nurse said that can happen when you're going through chemo. I guess they will keep an eye on that to make sure it doesn't go up any further. A high ALT test could be a sign of liver damage so I'll be all over that one. I've been so careful through the years - taking as low a dose as possible of my arthritis meds to protect my organs and I'll be darned if I'm going to let chemo meds take them down!

BudBud & Beppy

After my treatment we stopped at El Torito for lunch. We all know how I love to eat. Robyn and I were good though and we had the chicken tortilla soup.

Monday night I got the usual red face side effect. It was gone by the next morning. Other than fatigue, I'm feeling pretty good at the moment. I have to take my Neulasta shot today and start my Cirpo and that's usually when I start to feel pretty bad. I'm hoping it's better this time. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage the pain from the shot because I'm a bit paranoid to take Tylenol or pain meds with my elevated ALT. My Oncologist is gone this week so I didn't get a chance to ask about my options. I guess I will have to see how it goes.

Here's to minimal side effects!

Cheers,

Beppy

Special thanks to my brother, George for driving out to visit me last week. He spent the day with me and Peg and he took us out to lunch. It was a great day and I really enjoyed spending time with my big brother and sister! You are both awesome :)