First chemo treatment

2

Comments

  • LisaPizza
    LisaPizza Member Posts: 358 Member
    WHIZZER78 said:

    Thank you

    Well, I made it thru my first chemo.   I did have the allergic reaction.  Very scary but they were right on top of it in seconds.  I was able to continue without further incident after more Benedryl.  Other than being tired, I’m doing great this evending.  

     

    My sincere thanks for your, tips, well wishes and concerns.  

     

    Whizz 

    I had a reaction too, and it

    I had a reaction too, and it *is* scary. But if it makes you feel better, the 2nd and all subsequent cycles had no reaction, and apparently that's pretty typical. 

  • WHIZZER78
    WHIZZER78 Member Posts: 54 Member
    LisaPizza said:

    I had a reaction too, and it

    I had a reaction too, and it *is* scary. But if it makes you feel better, the 2nd and all subsequent cycles had no reaction, and apparently that's pretty typical. 

    That is good to hear.  I know

    That is good to hear.  I know I will be anxious at my next treatment.   They did say I would get more Benedryl to start with next time.  

  • WHIZZER78
    WHIZZER78 Member Posts: 54 Member
    zsazsa1 said:

    Hmmmm.  For every round, they

    Hmmmm.  For every round, they gave me Benadryl, Pepcid, and Decadron, all IV, to try to prevent allergic reaction.  They never talked about doing the premeds orally, except for the 16 mg of ondansetron.  They also gave me an IV anti-emetic.

    The Benedryl I got orally,

    The Benedryl I got orally, the others thru IV.   Next time Benedryl thru IV.  Hope that solves the issue.  

  • zsazsa1
    zsazsa1 Member Posts: 565 Member
    How are you doing today?

    How are you doing today?

  • WHIZZER78
    WHIZZER78 Member Posts: 54 Member
    zsazsa1 said:

    How are you doing today?

    How are you doing today?

    I’ve felt great today.  Got

    I’ve felt great today.  Got my Neulasta shot this afternoon.   Hoping the good continues.  Thanks for askIng.  

  • zsazsa1
    zsazsa1 Member Posts: 565 Member
    That's good!   Really good! 

    That's good!   Really good!   I think you are going to tolerate the chemo well.  This is excellent news.

  • Ribbons
    Ribbons Member Posts: 150 Member
    Whizzer78

    happy you have the first one done. My Benedryl was always oral but I was really loaded up on the steroid ahead of time. I do think it is pretty common to have an allergic reaction the first time only. I’m curious about your Neulasta shot. Did you get that as a precaution? They didn’t start mine till the second round. They waited for my weekly blood tests to show how far my neutrophils had dropped. Mine dropped a lot and even tho they came back up a bit in between treatments, I had to have the Neulasta every time after that just as a precaution.

  • zsazsa1
    zsazsa1 Member Posts: 565 Member
    Yeah, me too, they were

    Yeah, me too, they were worried that I would need Neulasta because my ANC dropped to close to 500 with first round, but it never went lower than that, never had it.

  • WHIZZER78
    WHIZZER78 Member Posts: 54 Member
    Ribbons said:

    Whizzer78

    happy you have the first one done. My Benedryl was always oral but I was really loaded up on the steroid ahead of time. I do think it is pretty common to have an allergic reaction the first time only. I’m curious about your Neulasta shot. Did you get that as a precaution? They didn’t start mine till the second round. They waited for my weekly blood tests to show how far my neutrophils had dropped. Mine dropped a lot and even tho they came back up a bit in between treatments, I had to have the Neulasta every time after that just as a precaution.

    I’m not sure to be honest why

    I’m not sure to be honest why I had it first round.  Doesn’t seem to always be the case.  I should have researched it more, I guess.  The pain has been terrible today.   Neulasta is not my friend, I’m afraid.  

  • WHIZZER78
    WHIZZER78 Member Posts: 54 Member
    zsazsa1 said:

    Yeah, me too, they were

    Yeah, me too, they were worried that I would need Neulasta because my ANC dropped to close to 500 with first round, but it never went lower than that, never had it.

    I will be talking to my dr

    I will be talking to my dr about this.  Not sure I can tolerate this pain Every time.  

  • zsazsa1
    zsazsa1 Member Posts: 565 Member
    edited March 2019 #32
    Everyone says that Claritin

    Everyone says that Claritin helps with the bone pain.

  • Tamlen
    Tamlen Member Posts: 343 Member
    ANC below 500, no Neulasta

    I also didn't have Neulasta, though my ANC dropped below 500. I was already having so much bone pain from the carbo/taxol (and I'm allergic to all the good painkillers) that I think my onc figured the Neulasta might really be excruciating. She told me to stay in my house when my ANC was so low, until it shot back up again each cycle. My husband was also fastidious about serious handwashing and hand sanitizer when he came home or after playing with our dog. I never got sick during chemo.

  • CheeseQueen57
    CheeseQueen57 Member Posts: 933 Member
    edited March 2019 #34
    No Neulasta

    I didn’t have Neulasta either. Was really careful and never got sick. 

  • WHIZZER78
    WHIZZER78 Member Posts: 54 Member
    Thank you all for responding.

    Thank you all for responding.   It’s comforting hearing that some have the same issues.   I’m hopeful that it won’t be as bad next time also.   I’m so glad I found this page.  

  • zsazsa1
    zsazsa1 Member Posts: 565 Member
    I was very careful, never got

    I was very careful, never got sick.  I wore gloves, and often a mask, when I went into buildings other than my home, all through the chemo. 

  • evolo58
    evolo58 Member Posts: 293 Member
    Ribbons said:

    Whizzer78

    happy you have the first one done. My Benedryl was always oral but I was really loaded up on the steroid ahead of time. I do think it is pretty common to have an allergic reaction the first time only. I’m curious about your Neulasta shot. Did you get that as a precaution? They didn’t start mine till the second round. They waited for my weekly blood tests to show how far my neutrophils had dropped. Mine dropped a lot and even tho they came back up a bit in between treatments, I had to have the Neulasta every time after that just as a precaution.

    My insurance

    Rejected my Neulasta. Since my white blood cells tanked last time, MAYBE they'll give the OK this time? Maybe?

  • evolo58
    evolo58 Member Posts: 293 Member
    zsazsa1 said:

    I was very careful, never got

    I was very careful, never got sick.  I wore gloves, and often a mask, when I went into buildings other than my home, all through the chemo. 

    Well, it's a good way to keep people away from you!

    I found that using a mask was an excellent idea when my mother insisted that she needed to go to the ER. (She was fine. I was a wreck. Even the paramedic strongly advised her to wait and not go to the ER because both she and I could have some serious problems, but she refused to listen. I got one awful case of the Bowels from Hell after that experience.) Since she doesn't like masks and won't wear one, I had to play Keep-Away for a few hours in a room full of sick people. I didn't even go to the bathroom since it seemed that the ones who were sickest appeared to have the weakest bladders. Nope. I wasn't worried at all! Smile

    One benefit of your wearing a mask is that people think YOU'RE sick and they try to stay away. No, sweeties. YOU'RE the ones I'm worried about with your coughing, sneezing and hacking, but please keep believing that. 

    I try to avoid crowds in the first place. I still have to shop, do errands and take care of my mother, so it's not that I can avoid people. I food shop at night, when there aren't as many people around, for instance. I don't always wear a mask, since my blood counts weren't that bad until the last treatment, but ALWAYS carry them on me, ready to don one if lucky me sees the hacking person who seems to want to share the love. Now that my counts are lower, I mask much more often as a precaution. (When I was on Carbo/Taxol, though, I masked much more diligently, since my counts plummeted a lot sooner.) My hand-washing procedures after dealing with the public would make the most diligent surgeon envious!

    I can't wait until the end of cold and flu season. That is only about a month or two away! 

  • evolo58
    evolo58 Member Posts: 293 Member

    Chemo

    I had four rounds of chemo last year. My center provided ice mittens and booties so I did not worry about that. I have minimal neuropathy  in my feet, so I feel it worked well for me. Rejected the cold cap. My hair fell out 6 weeks after 1st chemo, during the 2nd round. After surgery I was almost incontinent,which is better now, but still a problem for me today. Luckily we had chemo suites some with attached toilets, as the bags of liquid made me totally incontinent and I wet myself (yuck). I had a change of clothes. No one told me that might happen. I slept through most of my treatments as I had to have bloodwork very early, 6:20 am, so I was up at 5:00 am. hardly needed any other entertainment. I did not have a port. Patient education  pre chemo warned us to try and drink 64 oz of water daily, in addition to tea, juice, etc. to flush the chemo. I continued to drink this amount of water daily from one treatment to another, stopping 6 weeks after my last chemo. This helped tremendously with constipation, and replaced liquid lost through diarrhea. Unfortunately, it exacerbated my incontinence but I just had to get used to my new normal rather than risk my already compromised kidneys. I took the anti nausea meds as needed and they were a great help. I have serious osteoarthritis in many of my joints so the bone pain was terrible, but short lived. I slept 10 hours a day which was a lot for me. Things with meat or meat smells were off limits but fine now. Now 5 months after chemo I feel pretty good. Still have minor pee problems leftover from the surgery, bowels work well, even though I will be on stool softeners probably for life, hair is coming back, and I have lost 22 lbs. mostly because I could not eat much. Food still doesn’t taste the same and I have little appetite, hopefully that will resolve. I feel my time doing chemo was pretty easy compared to some, just something to endure and get through, and I look to feeling better as the months go by. Good luck!

    Denise

    The booties are GREAT

    If your center does not supply them, you can get them off Amazon. They're not too terribly expensive. Good for tired feet in the future as well. I opted to just do the plunge with my hands. My hands are more sensitized to cold; my feet are not, and was agonizing doing the plunge with them. (No, I did not walk five miles to school barefoot when I was a kid!) I would actually follow the directions (oops) and leave one set of the ice packs in the booties, then freeze the booties and extra packs. It saves a lot of trouble trying to get the ice packs into the booties during treatment.

    I opted not to cold-cap as well, but that is a decision you need to make for yourself. Many ladies are glad they did. My hair fell out right around the second treatment, though I started getting more-obvious bald spots the week before.

    I wear adult diapers to chemo and until the "chemo cootie" period is over. (Many doctors recommend using precautions such as flushing the toilet twice and washing any clothes and bedding used during a certain time period separately. For me, it was 48 hours. I've heard some centers tell their patients five days. Since I have other famliy members in my house, I bag my waste separately and double-bag it before taking it out after the cootie period is over.

    You can either go loose and runny or pass walnuts after treatment. Stool softener at least a day or so before and the first week after was a must for me. I got the passing walnuts option. 

    Claritin ... I'm sure someone mentioned that already. It's really helpful to take it at least a day before and a couple of days after. I know you already had your first treatment, but I wasn't told ANYTHING at my first treatment, and boy oh boy was it wretched. I remembered it for the second treatment and beyond, though!

    I had the opposite reaction concerning food, by the way ... I wanted to eat the wallpaper. The nurses told me steroids can do that. Be careful if you wind up getting amped-up munchies. You can actually gain weight from chemo!




  • WHIZZER78
    WHIZZER78 Member Posts: 54 Member
    evolo58 said:

    Well, it's a good way to keep people away from you!

    I found that using a mask was an excellent idea when my mother insisted that she needed to go to the ER. (She was fine. I was a wreck. Even the paramedic strongly advised her to wait and not go to the ER because both she and I could have some serious problems, but she refused to listen. I got one awful case of the Bowels from Hell after that experience.) Since she doesn't like masks and won't wear one, I had to play Keep-Away for a few hours in a room full of sick people. I didn't even go to the bathroom since it seemed that the ones who were sickest appeared to have the weakest bladders. Nope. I wasn't worried at all! Smile

    One benefit of your wearing a mask is that people think YOU'RE sick and they try to stay away. No, sweeties. YOU'RE the ones I'm worried about with your coughing, sneezing and hacking, but please keep believing that. 

    I try to avoid crowds in the first place. I still have to shop, do errands and take care of my mother, so it's not that I can avoid people. I food shop at night, when there aren't as many people around, for instance. I don't always wear a mask, since my blood counts weren't that bad until the last treatment, but ALWAYS carry them on me, ready to don one if lucky me sees the hacking person who seems to want to share the love. Now that my counts are lower, I mask much more often as a precaution. (When I was on Carbo/Taxol, though, I masked much more diligently, since my counts plummeted a lot sooner.) My hand-washing procedures after dealing with the public would make the most diligent surgeon envious!

    I can't wait until the end of cold and flu season. That is only about a month or two away! 

    I agree with cold and flu

    I agree with cold and flu season nearly being over.  Guess that’s a positive to the timing of this adventure.   I have enough support that I don’t have to even leave the house.  But I will go crazy if I don’t get out.  I’m hoping to work when able but that’s yet to be seen.  

  • LisaPizza
    LisaPizza Member Posts: 358 Member
    edited March 2019 #41
    evolo58 said:

    The booties are GREAT

    If your center does not supply them, you can get them off Amazon. They're not too terribly expensive. Good for tired feet in the future as well. I opted to just do the plunge with my hands. My hands are more sensitized to cold; my feet are not, and was agonizing doing the plunge with them. (No, I did not walk five miles to school barefoot when I was a kid!) I would actually follow the directions (oops) and leave one set of the ice packs in the booties, then freeze the booties and extra packs. It saves a lot of trouble trying to get the ice packs into the booties during treatment.

    I opted not to cold-cap as well, but that is a decision you need to make for yourself. Many ladies are glad they did. My hair fell out right around the second treatment, though I started getting more-obvious bald spots the week before.

    I wear adult diapers to chemo and until the "chemo cootie" period is over. (Many doctors recommend using precautions such as flushing the toilet twice and washing any clothes and bedding used during a certain time period separately. For me, it was 48 hours. I've heard some centers tell their patients five days. Since I have other famliy members in my house, I bag my waste separately and double-bag it before taking it out after the cootie period is over.

    You can either go loose and runny or pass walnuts after treatment. Stool softener at least a day or so before and the first week after was a must for me. I got the passing walnuts option. 

    Claritin ... I'm sure someone mentioned that already. It's really helpful to take it at least a day before and a couple of days after. I know you already had your first treatment, but I wasn't told ANYTHING at my first treatment, and boy oh boy was it wretched. I remembered it for the second treatment and beyond, though!

    I had the opposite reaction concerning food, by the way ... I wanted to eat the wallpaper. The nurses told me steroids can do that. Be careful if you wind up getting amped-up munchies. You can actually gain weight from chemo!




    Amazing how much different

    Amazing how much different doctors / centers vary. I had no precautions at all about waste or laundry.