Will have my first chimo Tuesday, please need advised

what to bring
Bring a swaeter or a blanket sometimes the chemo makes you cold, and maybe something to eat if it is going to take a long time. I'm sure the other ladies here will have more ideas but this is all I can think of right now. You will be fine it's not as bad as you think, good luck
Colleen

poopergirl14052 said:

bring
I have what I call my chemo bag. I keep a blanket, something to read, a sandwich or crackers. Also bring your meds you have to take before chemo. Good luck with your chemo and welcome to the board....val

I had a chemo bag, too. I
I had a chemo bag, too. I took my blanket (although most infusion centers have blankets), slipper-socks, and my iPad. Before I got the iPad I took my eReader. I think iPads should be issued to all new chemo patients. You can download books and read them on it. If there is WiFi at your center you can stream your Netflix, or surf the net, post on CSN, Facebook everyone, check your email, etc. Don't forget the earphones, though. Not everyone wants to listen to 6 hours of "Hoarders" reruns.

My husband always went out and got lunch for us, but my Cancer Factory (thank you for that idiom, Sarah) has drinks and snacks.

You will probably sleep thru most of it. They give you high doses of Benadryl before they start the bug juice. I always said I felt "wicked" because it made me feel as if I'd had a whole bottle of wine, at 10 in the morning.

The steroids made me ravenous. I once ate 10 hot wings in one chemo infusion. Plus a side of veggie sticks. (The nurse saw the veggies, after the wings were long gone, and commended me on my "good diet choices." Little did she know!)


If you have a reaction, IMMEDIATELY call for the nurse and ask them to slow down the infusion. I thought maybe I was supposed to feel like I was dying, then I passed out. That got everyone's attention. You are NOT supposed to feel anything "bad." Call for help if you need it, even if you have to shout to get someone's attention.

Carlene

Hissy_Fitz said:

I had a chemo bag, too. I
I had a chemo bag, too. I took my blanket (although most infusion centers have blankets), slipper-socks, and my iPad. Before I got the iPad I took my eReader. I think iPads should be issued to all new chemo patients. You can download books and read them on it. If there is WiFi at your center you can stream your Netflix, or surf the net, post on CSN, Facebook everyone, check your email, etc. Don't forget the earphones, though. Not everyone wants to listen to 6 hours of "Hoarders" reruns.

My husband always went out and got lunch for us, but my Cancer Factory (thank you for that idiom, Sarah) has drinks and snacks.

You will probably sleep thru most of it. They give you high doses of Benadryl before they start the bug juice. I always said I felt "wicked" because it made me feel as if I'd had a whole bottle of wine, at 10 in the morning.

The steroids made me ravenous. I once ate 10 hot wings in one chemo infusion. Plus a side of veggie sticks. (The nurse saw the veggies, after the wings were long gone, and commended me on my "good diet choices." Little did she know!)


If you have a reaction, IMMEDIATELY call for the nurse and ask them to slow down the infusion. I thought maybe I was supposed to feel like I was dying, then I passed out. That got everyone's attention. You are NOT supposed to feel anything "bad." Call for help if you need it, even if you have to shout to get someone's attention.

Carlene

Chemo treatment
Licha: Sorry to meet you here...too many women are getting cancer!

Did you have an infusion port put in? It is a minor surgery to put in the port under the skin so that it is easier to take the intravenous treatment. If you have an infusion port, it will be in the upper chest area. You want to wear a shirt that you can unbutton so the nurse can put the needle into the infusion port. If no port, wear something with short sleeves so you can take the treatment in the arm vein.

Chemo takes several hours. Wear something comfortable & easy to manage if you need to use the toilet before the treatment is finished.

I brought a blanket & an eye mask so I could sleep thru the treatment. The pre-meds make you sleepy, too. If you think listening to music would help you, bring something with earphones.

The last suggestion is to drink at least 1liter of water before your treatment & another liter of water after. The platinol chemo is tolerated better by your kidneys if you are well hydrated. I like the bottled water called Smart Water because it replaces magnesium & potassium--two electrolytes lost as a result of chemo treatment.

Your hair will probably not fall out until 2-3 weeks after the first Taxol treatment.

I usually felt OK on the day of chemo but then not so good on the 3rd day. Food did not taste good, I had constipation, felt like sleeping a lot & got weepy. I think crying is very common--not just because you have a good reason to cry but also because chemo removes the brain chemical (serotonin) that makes you feel happy.

The chemo nurses are very nice & will take very good care of you.

Please come back and tell us how you are doing on your journey to return to health.

LQ

TeaLurker said:

Glad your sister will be there
Having someone with you for the first infusion session is really helpful.

Everyone seems to experience chemo differently. It makes me so cold that I have to wear long underwear, even though the nurses drape me with 3 heated blankets (2 that drape from my shoulders down and 1 wrapped around my head and shoulders).

The Benadryl didn't make me sleepy the first few weeks (perhaps my anxiety was too high), but since then, I have learned to welcome the nap, and now I have trouble waking up at the end. I never feel alert enough to drive afterward. I don't know if everyone in first-line treatment receives Benadryl as a pre-med.

My hair was slow to fall out, so I'm glad I didn't cut it short right away.

As Carlene said, you may need to shout if you need help (the chairs don't have call buttons), so don't be shy. Once I noticed my blankets getting wet (a tube not connected properly, just one time) and tried to get someone's attention discreetly and politely. That was a foolish and potentially dangerous mistake. Shout if you think you're in trouble.

My small rolling bag (haven't been strong enough to carry much weight) always has my notebook with my lab-work, appointment and contact information, a paperback novel, a puzzle book with a pen that clips to it, a protein bar (which I rarely eat), and a spare bottle of water. My infusion center has snack bags and juice cans but I have never sampled them.

Make sure you get any prescriptions filled (for anti-nausea or anti-anxiety, etc.), and ask the docs and nurses what they recommend for constipation and pain relief.
Hope it goes well for you, with minimal side-effects.

TeaLurker,
welcome! I'm sorry you have recurred and have had to come here. Love your profile name!
kathleen

kayandok said:

Welcome Licha!
So sorry you had to come to this board. Sounds like you got the complete list plus more for what you will need for the chemo room. Be sure and upack any anxiety and worry. It really is not scary, and side effects, if they come will not usually be in the chemo room. MOst of us just sleep!
Wishing you the best in this journey,
kathleen

Licha the beauty of this board
is that sometimes you can offer support, knowledge, compassion, etc and sometimes you need to be the receiver of these gifts. I wish I could meet all these ladies because they seem like the kind of girls I would love to have as friends. Maybe someday we could hold a convention. I bet we would rock the house!

Karen

TeaLurker said:

kayandok
Thanks, kayandok. Actually, I haven't exactly recurred, it's that I haven't gone into remission (yet). Guess I should make a profile but I'm not accustomed to putting much personal info on the web.

Short version: ER trip mid-November 2010 ("hot abdomen"); emergency surgery; girl parts + appendix removed; many tumors/much juice (8 liters); Stage IIIC clear cell; clinical trial with 18 consecutive weeks of Chemo Cocktails (via IV port and IP port) from December through April 2011; PET-CT showed two lymph nodes in chest with uptake (& some in abdomen which may be inflammation from IP). Boom: back to Chemo last week, with a new regimen.

The mets may make me Stage IV now; didn't think to ask.

Sorry that I don't seem to have the hang of the proper way to thread here. I'm an OVCA novice, but not an internet newbie! Been reading here since January, but just "lurking and leaching". I have little to offer (for now).

Very grateful to all the posters on this board, who have taught me much and made me feel less alone. Wish I were that comfortable sharing, too. Maybe down the road.

TeaLurker,
you have been through a lot! When you are comfortable sharing, we would be interested to know what clinical trial and chemo cocktail you had and what you are on now. Hearing the facts of your journey is always helpful, when you are up for it. No hurry, though.
Hugs,
kathleen

Thank you for asking the
Thank you for asking the question. I start chemo the week after and my brain is still spinning with the idea of having to get chemo. I am initially going to be on my own for the first session. Being prepared really helps with the anxiety.

My husband and I took care of my mother in law during terminal cancer. Even though I was front and center, I am having trouble applying those lessons to myself. I will get a list ready. In this next week, I will get a bag ready. The fisr drip is going to be a long one.

Hissy_Fitz said:

I agree with LQ....you
I agree with LQ....you really need to draft a family member or friend to go with you, especially for the first infusion.

I had such a bad reaction the first time, I had to leave the facility in a wheelchair. There is no way I could have driven myself home.

Another suggeston, if you haven't gotten a script yet for the numbing cream, ask your doctor. I use it for blood draws, too. One of the nurses said, "You are going to run out of that little tube of cream if you keep using it for labs," to which I replied, "Then I will just ask for another script."

Carlene

Emla cream
In the US, the brand name of the numbing cream is Emla cream (it is available in generic form, too). The cream must be applied an hour before you get stuck (jabbed) & needs to be covered with a bandaid. If you don't have a port site to put it on, you have to decide which vein is gonna be volunteered. I think I heard about it first in Nancy591's post.

LQ

Avoiding neuropathy and mouth sores
When I had chemo, I followed the advice to put ice on my toes and fingers during my taxol infusion. I also sucked on ice chips during the infusion of this drug. I don't know if that is what did it, but I never sufferred from mouth sores or neuropathy. My body did not deal with that drug well, so I tend to believe I dodged those bullets by following the ice advice.