Day After Chemo #1 - How Y'all Doing?

first time chemo
Hi Lori and everyone else going through your first time of chemo

Just sending my good wishes to you for a smooth afterglow of chemo. Remember, it's not unusual at all (in fact, with me it's always the case, and others will probably agree) to feel side effects two to three days afterward. The first time went through chemo (2004), I got chemo on Thursday; on Sunday I would feel it. That would be my worst day but would get better afterward. This time (I've been on chemo weekly since April) I get chemo on Friday and start feeling it Monday, sometimes Sunday evening. Chemo effects are cumulative, too. The longer you're on it, the more you'll feel. So, depending on how long your regimen is, you may feel it more as you go through it.

The most common side effect is the nausea. Be sure not to avoid taking your meds for that; nausea meds are like pain meds: if you don't take them before the symptoms get severe, it's harder to control the outcome. So, after your chemo, if your hemonc or chemo nurse tells you to take your nausea meds for two days following, do it. Post chemo nausea can be obnoxious, but the meds really help. I have learned (the hard way) to listen to that advice.

As always, drink lots of fluids to flush the stuff out of your body. And, avoid thinking too much about the side effects. We're all different and we don't all share the same side effects.

One thing, if you don't know this yet, when you're on chemo, you will often become (probably not after your first treatment) neutropenic: your white blood cell count (there are three measures they look at to determine this). When we become neutropenis, we are in danger of any infection becoming serious enough to have dire effects. So, if you get a fever--ask your doctor what the number is, usually over 101F--you should call your hemonc IMMEDIATELY; after hours, you may need to go to the ER so they can make sure you don't have an infection that could grow and take you out. So, if you get a cold or flu, watch your temperature and report in if it rises over that number.

OK, that's probably way more than you wanted to read this morning, but I just wanted to share. Here's wishing you a very uneventful recovery from chemo.

Love and hugs,
donna peach

Thanks for starting the thread to check in on -
I was thinking about this this morning but realized since I'm the farthest west chemo chick, it would probably up and going before I got to the the boards.
Mine too went well. I'm still having a slight headache but have determined it's a side effect of the Emend as well as the steroid given 2x prior to treatment and then again in the first set of meds they push in.
No reaction to the Taxotere! Yeh! that had been one of the biggest concerns. I am tired. My daughter went with me and I'm staying at her house through my Neulasta shot on Monday. It tooks like my weekends will be here as my son's house is rather busy on the weekends with kids and family's over.
The trembly feeling you are having can be a side effect of the Emend but is most likely from the steroid given to prevent of dminish the potential reaction to the Taxotere. I know that I am that's why I'm going to be taking the Ativan (Lorazipam) every 6-8 hours as prescribed. When it kicks in I feel much better. Check with the doc about getting some called in. The steroids should be out of your system in a few days.

lovelylola said:

Thanks for starting the thread to check in on -
I was thinking about this this morning but realized since I'm the farthest west chemo chick, it would probably up and going before I got to the the boards.
Mine too went well. I'm still having a slight headache but have determined it's a side effect of the Emend as well as the steroid given 2x prior to treatment and then again in the first set of meds they push in.
No reaction to the Taxotere! Yeh! that had been one of the biggest concerns. I am tired. My daughter went with me and I'm staying at her house through my Neulasta shot on Monday. It tooks like my weekends will be here as my son's house is rather busy on the weekends with kids and family's over.
The trembly feeling you are having can be a side effect of the Emend but is most likely from the steroid given to prevent of dminish the potential reaction to the Taxotere. I know that I am that's why I'm going to be taking the Ativan (Lorazipam) every 6-8 hours as prescribed. When it kicks in I feel much better. Check with the doc about getting some called in. The steroids should be out of your system in a few days.

Lola - Headache
Lola, I also had really bad headaches the first two or three days after treatment. I informed my oncologist about at the follow up appointment and she revised the pre-cocktail meds for the second treatment. That one change eliminated the really bad headaches for me. It's worth a shot to tell your oncologist if it really is bad.

Good luck to all of you! You're doing great!

Pitt

Hi, Lori
You'll get through ok, just expect to feel a little blah with some stomach upset and bone aches, like the flu for about a week. It's not terribly bad.