Chemo...not so bad.

I had my first chemotherapy today. It was weird in how easy it actually is. I got to sit in a HUGE lounge chair while the chemotherapist (I don't know what they are really called, so I made that up) poked around my sore port and stabbed my skin to the port to start the saline. She started with a anti-nausea medicine that is also a steroid, and then started with the cancer killers. Only one at a time can be administered so they can check for side effects. While going through chemo, I can sit, snack, drink, and even walk to the bathroom. It wasn't harsh at all. I thought I would feel my port area burn and be very uncomfortable, but it did't hurt after the initial stab, and that will change once I get to use the skin numbing cream.

Although I feel okay right now, I'm still probably going to take off of work tomorrow just to be sure. It would be really embarrassing to throw up in front of my class, and I don't know how my body will react to this cancer killer yet.

The chemotherapy drugs that were given to me Adriamycin and Cytoxan, also known as AC. I will be taking four treatments of this every two weeks in what is known as dose dense therapy. I have to go back tomorrow for my Neulasta shot that will help my red and white blood cell count stay up while hopefully the cancer count will go down. After the 2 months of chemo, I will go through a Pet scan, and hopefully the cancer will show up as killed in the external areas of my body, but I will still have to have surgery to remove the area that the cancer started. The good news is that with this treatment, I will probably save most of my lymph nodes. They will then start a chemotherapy of Taxol for 4 treatments, and Herpectin 3 weeks to monthly for the rest of my life. I will also begin an oral drug called Tamoxifen, that will keep my ovaries from doing their job, and will probably eventually lose my ovaries. This is due to the cancer being a positive estrogen and progesterone receptor...it eats my hormones and thus reproduces like crazy.