Herceptin/Chemo Day #1

Today was my first Herceptin and chemo treatment. It went fine. Just the thought of not having to put an IV in took a lot of anxiety away. They were able to use my new port. The needle stick still hurt a bit but that is because I still have a lot of swelling around the area and they had to push the needle in quite far to get it into the port. They did the Herceptin first which took about an hour, then some anti-nausea drugs, then some MORE steroids (like I need more water retention right now), then chemo 1, 2 and 3 and then some saline. The whole process took 4 hours. This is the first time I have been put in the "bed" area rather than the "chairs". Other than the fact that I am having chemo again the experience was as good as it could be. There was a bed and a TV and Sandy to keep me compnay.

So we will see how I tolerate this chemo. It is not supposed to be as hard as the other ones that I have been on. Some nausea but I have pills to take only as needed. They don't know about hair growth when I am on this. Could have mouth sores yet again and some tingling and loss of sensation in my finger tips. I will also experience the usual low white blood count and fatigue as usual. Nothing really new from before.

But I am in a positive frame of mind. I am off to Edmonton with my sister and her kids visiting from San Francisco. I will be back on Sunday pm and will update the blog then on how I am feeling.

PS. My oncologist is keeping me on the steroids ANOTHER week. So one more week at least of fat face. I am so looking forward to looking like myself again.

Love Carolin