First chemo treatment

How are you doing today?

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

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 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.

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.

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

BluebirdOne said:

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

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!

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 doctors / centers vary. I had no precautions at all about waste or laundry.