Chemo #4

Yesterday, I had my 4th chemo treatment, which was the first round of Taxotere and Herceptin for me.

This time I went to the new doctor's office that is closer to my house, rather than the one I usually go to. I'm not a huge fan of this new office. It is much smaller than the other office. The waiting room isn't as comfortable and welcoming either. Also the other office has a big living room size room with all the recliners for infusion. This office seems to have just knocked down a wall between exam rooms and shoved recliners in wherever they fit.

This time I think they overbooked because they weren't open on Monday, so it was super busy. My appointment was at 11:45 a.m. I got there around 11:30 with Donna and my niece Ashton. There was only one empty chair in the whole waiting room. Some opened up as we waited, but I didn't get called back until at least noon, probably more like 12:15. They took my vitals and I told the nurse I forgot to take my steroid the night before chemo like I was supposed to, although I took it first thing in the morning. She didn't think it would be a problem. Then they sent me to the exam room to wait for Dr. Y. He did the usual check up with me and then I waited a bit longer and the nurse came back to tell me they were trying to figure out where to put me. I asked her how long this infusion would take (since it's my first time for this treatment). She said about an hour or so for the Taxotere and an hour and a half for the Herceptin for the first dose. She came back and told me to begin with they were going to put me in a different exam room in a rolly computer chair (with no arms). I then went to the waiting room to tell Donna and Ashton that I'd be at least 3 hours, so if they wanted to go back to the house to wait, they could come back later to pick me up. Seriously the waiting room was awful.

I came back to assigned room and chair and found that I had a roomate in the same kind of awful chair. They had already started her IV and put her on saline and gave her a shot of benadryl so she started getting sleepy. Eventually she fell asleep in the chair and started snoring. Finally, around 1:00 p.m they came back and started my IV with saline. They gave me a shot of benadryl too and I took some Tylenol because the Taxotere can cause joint and bone pain. No nausea medicine this time. I had a book to read, so I kept occupied. Around 2:00 p.m they came in and finally started my Taxotere (2 hours and 15 minutes after my appointment time). I stayed in that room until my Taxotere was done and they hooked up the Herceptin. Between 3 and 3:30 p.m. a recliner finally opened up and they moved me to the other room. It was much more comfortable and the last hour was much nicer. I finished up around 4:30 p.m.

Then I had to make my new appointments. Starting next week I'll be getting Herceptin weekly at the same time I get my CBC done. They seemed to have problems figuring out to schedule me. For some reason they want me to keep coming back to this new office. Probably because it's about 1/2 the distance from my house as the other office. Also it's very close to my work. The only problem is the new office doesn't have a lab, so they wanted me to go to the hospital next door to get my bloodwork done. The problem with that is the hospital lab won't access my port, so I'd have to get it done through my arm. Considering I only have one arm available for blood draws, I think that would get old very quick. I told them I really don't mind driving to the other office, but they didn't want to inconveniece me. Finally, they called the other office and arranged to draw blood at the new office through my port and then send it to the other office at the end of the day to the lab. They'll call me the next day if I need to take my Levaquin. So anyway, they scheduled my next Herceptin for Monday, Jan 2. By then they'll get the rest of my appointments scheduled and give me a print out of the dates. I did ask them to go ahead and schedule my next chemo, because with Grace's surgery coming up, I wanted to be sure I have childcare and work stuff figured out. It will be on Wedndesday, Jan 18th. That will be perfect because my Mom is coming on Tuesday and will be able to take care of Grace if I'm feeling icky. Plus I should be ok to take care of Grace the next week when I'm on my own again.

Regarding side effects, this does seem better than before. My hands did get a little tingly when they were starting the Taxotere, but it went away really quick and nothing since then. I had a brief moment of nausea when I got home, but I didn't even drink a whole sprite. I was able to eat a normal dinner too, that is better than normal. I haven't taken any nausea medicine either. I seem to have the most side effects from the steroid. Before I would take 1 pill a day for 3 days. Now I am to take 2 pills twice a day for 5 doses (2 1/2 days). It makes me very hot and flushed. Also, I have the huge appettite thing going on. I'll take it over naseau and vommiting though. The only other issue is some fatigue, but even that hasn't been too bad.

Well, I think I'm going to scrounge up some lunch.