I’ve always wanted to blog about my travels, especially about the years I lived and worked in the Middle East and Africa from 2010 to 2017, but I never got around to it. Maybe I’ll share some of those adventures later!
Yesterday I had a three-phase CT scan. I guess I need to have the scan first before they can do the liver biopsy. It wasn’t too bad, other than the IV being pretty painful. She kept telling me, “I have to advance it,” and I was thinking, I really wish you would just do what you have to do without giving me a play-by-play! Usually I tell nurses I’m deathly afraid of needles so they get the hint, but some don’t.
My chemo got rescheduled to Monday, December 23 at 9 a.m. Thank goodness!!! I felt so relieved because I was having crazy anxiety about starting chemo, and originally they wanted me to do it right after the CT scan.
Oh, by the way, I’m getting TCHP chemotherapy: Taxotere, Carboplatin, Herceptin and Perjeta. It’s every three weeks, and each treatment is supposed to take four to five hours. Eeeks!
There’s also all this preparation before the actual chemo. I have to get bloodwork to make sure my counts are good, and I’ll take dexamethasone for three days starting the night before chemo. I also have two anti-nausea medications, prochlorperazine and ondansetron. One is stronger than the other, but I forgot which one, so I guess I’ll find out on Monday. 😂
I also have topical lidocaine to put on my port about 30 minutes beforehand so hopefully I won’t feel the needle as much. I’ll write about my port surgery another time.
I’ve already packed a chemo bag with cozy socks, a blanket, snacks, my laptop, phone, a book, mints and gum. I’ve also been buying other supplies I think I might need.
After chemo, I’m supposed to go in for IV hydration. I have another follow-up appointment with my oncologist the day after Christmas, when I’m sure I’ll get my CT results. Then there’s more bloodwork and a toxicity appointment to make sure I’m handling the chemo okay.
I can write more about all of this after I’ve actually had these appointments because, right now, I’m kinda clueless about everything.
This will all repeat every three weeks…
Okay, I’m keeping this one short because I’m still not sure how I feel about blogging yet!
XOXO
