Today's Lineup

Was very groggy at the end of treatment.  I was pumped with quite a few medications today.  First, there were the pre-meds administered by IV.  They gave me Dexamethasone (Decadron), Ondansetron (Zofran), Diphenhydramine (Benadryl), and Ranitidine to start off.  Decadron is used to reduce inflammation, decrease or prevent nausea and vomiting.  Zofran to decrease nausea and/or vomiting before, during and after chemotherapy treatments.  Benadryl to relieve symptoms of allergic reactions, to relieve or prevent symptoms caused by some anti-nausea medications, and to assist in falling asleep.  Rantitidine is an H2 histamine blocker to help prevent ulcers and improves symptoms of heart burn and stomach pain.  Basically, a ton of drugs in the hope that I will not have bad nausea from the Chemotherapy treatment.  It took about two hours to administer all of these by IV.

The chemotherapy drugs came next.  Docetaxel (Taxotere) and Cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan) were the two drugs administered today.  These are the fun ones.  Taxotere is used to treat various forms of cancer and Cytoxan is used to treat breast and ovarian cancer.  Both have basically the same lovely side effects.  Hair loss (temporary), changes in appearance of fingernails and toe nails, drop in blood cell counts (particularly white blood cells) about 7-10 days after treatment, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, mild swelling in hands or feet, fluid retention, muscle pain, fatigue or weakness, nerve sensation changes (burning and numbness), irregular heartbeat, skin rash.  Such a lovely list.  Now, it does not necessarily mean that I will have all of these side effects.  They just want to inform me about what might happen.  The drugs they give me hopefully will counter act many of these.  But, the hair loss and blood count drop are ones that will most likely happen and scare me the most.

And, all this is just day one.  I go back tomorrow for some more drugs and hydration.

Time for a giant nap!!