May 26th
Sarah has been doing wonderful over these couple of weeks since our last post. Her PT has been helping her range of motion and helping her get stronger every day. Her left arm still is just not as strong as the right arm but obviously that is to be expected given the extensive surgery on the left arm. She finds that she gets cold easy which is part of a having lymph nodes removed. Part of her PT at home includes lifting golf clubs as resistance and stretching to work on the range motion. After her PT at the rehabilitation center she is pretty sore but it is most certainly helping.
Things actually started to feel normal over the past couple of weeks but I found myself thinking about the upcoming chemo treatments on occasion, at least I wasn't thinking about cancer anywhere near where is was a month ago. I have been dreading the chemo and having to watch Sarah go thru some of the side effects and feeling powerless to help. Of course everyone has different reactions to chemo, some have no real symptoms other than fatigue and hair loss where as others may go thru a lot more. Only time will tell what Sarah will experience. But I can tell you that Sarah will take each situation head on as she has thru this entire process....primary example....today was her first chemo session and afterwards she went to work like nothing went on this morning. I have no idea how she does it and maintains as much normalcy as she does but God bless her.
We arrived at the Cancer Center around 8:30 where they took some vitals and we met with a woman from the nursing staff to make sure to address any questions we still had. Most of our questions were answered at the chemo training so it was mostly just small chat and then off to the infusion room. For most of you that have never been in an infusion room....its a huge room with small divider walls and 4 recliners in each pod. Patients get the comfy recliners....visitors get foldup chairs.....yeah I think they should totally have 2 recliners (one for patient and one for visitor)....I will have to put that on a suggestion card! You get to sit and watch others going thru the same treatments and battling cancer. It sounds depressing on the surface watching this disease make a presence in so many people's lives but there is encouragement when you hear people come in and say "Today is my last session!" and they have a huge smile on their face ear-to-ear....that certainly puts smile on my face seeing what the end looks like....knowing that too will be Sarah's response in the near future. But for now we will just take one day at a time and let tomorrow worry about itself!
So we found a space to call home for the morning.....first they have to give her the iv line in her hand....yeah not the most pain-free area to get an iv but they have to start there in case something happens to the vein at that location and then they can move up the arm and redo the iv. She did great on the first go....they then take some blood to check the blood counts (cbc).....all the blood counts came back perfect! Then they start with the steroids and the anti-nausea meds. She took those well along with some saline fluids....then they start with the first chemo drug (Cytoxan...chemical name: cyclophosphamide...for you chemical nerds out there)...they take their time administering the chemo drugs to make sure that she doesn't have an allergic reaction. She did great taking the first chemo drug...only complaint was she got a little cold and had some pain where the iv was in her hand. They said that localized pain is normal given that the meds are going into the vein at that location rather than a port....she is not needing a port given she will be only having 4 sessions. Sarah did great on the next chemo drug (Taxotere...chemical name: docetaxel) as well....no problems there either. They finish everything off with a final bag of saline just to make she gets a good amount of fluids.
Water is very crucial while on chemo so if you see or talk to Sarah please make sure to remind her to drink her water. Obviously good food and eating frequently in smaller amounts is also important....even when she is not hungry they advise that she still make an effort to eat! Well today was a good day overall and she did great....afterwards she said she felt a little gittery....she wasn't sure if it was the chemo drugs or the steroids or even the morning latte her sister Britt brought over....Sarah and her darn Starbucks Grande skinny vanilla latte's just in case any of you plan on joining her for some future chemo sessions and would like to bring her favorite morning drink. The total time at the infusion center was about 4 hours....typical for the first go since they take everything kind of slow to make sure the body doesn't have that allergic reaction. After she was done it was off to work since she said she felt good....she even felt like going for a run....yeah that's definitely the steroids talking! She is not allowed to run...doctors orders....she does not have workout release yet! She is only able to walk and at a top speed limit of 3 mph....yes they are that specific....so it sounds like a treadmill will be her new best friend for the next 4 months if she wants to workout at all.
Lets hope that things continue to go well....its just Day 1 so it is fairly early to really know how she will do..... I do encourage her not over do it! We will probably start the meal train again for the next 3 sessions just for the week of chemo given that the fatigue level will continue to worsen as she receives each chemo session. If you wish to help out again or for the first time on meal train please email my mom at tmmperry12@gmail.com. I plan on putting some links for meal ideas for people going thru chemo.
As always thank you to everyone supporting Sarah right now with encouragement, love, and warm wishes....it means a lot. Good know that she has 1 session down and only 3 more to go! Keep on fighting Sarah....each day is one day closer to the end of this journey!
Thank you,
Mac
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