Chemo Week One

I went with Mom to her first chemo appointment today. We arrived at around 8:15 am and left around 12:45 pm. They said this appointment would take longer than subsequent appointments but it was right on the mark as far as what they told her to expect. She received Taxol and Carboplatin today, next week and the week after she will only receive Taxol. She wanted to have some photos posted so everyone can see what the treatment rooms, etc are like. It's hard to imagine it all so we are in agreement that pictures can bridge that gap for everyone. Click HERE to see additional photos. She was a little bit of a ham . . . :o).

The treatment itself was relatively uneventful. The nurse explained a lot, got her port site prepped and then got her hooked up to the IV drip. It took about 3 hours for her to receive all of the pre-meds (a lot of anti nausea meds, benadryl, etc) and the 2 chemo drugs. She didn't report any side effects except that the benadryl made her sleepy. In fact, she slept through much of the infusion.

After treatment, we went and had lunch at a local vegetarian restaurant called Green, picked up her prescriptions at Walgreens and then came home. She is in great spirits and hasn't had any side effects so far except she reported a metallic taste just a minute ago (which is very common for chemo patients). The high point of the appointment was when the nurse explained that if she feels up to it, exercise is actually a great way to combat some of the chemo side effects so she has plans to take walks with Great Grandma regularly to keep moving forward.

~Candice