Tuesday, May 6th   So I decided to get a port installed. If you have never seen a port, it’s an implanted device that makes it easier for me to get ‘plugged in’ to the IV drip for chemotherapy. It was a very last-minute decision. I had an echocardiogram scheduled for the same time that I had to cancel for the surgery. On top of all the stress of cancer, this would be my first time ever under general anesthesia. Yep – this would be my first surgery ever.

That night wasn’t an easy one. William (my husband) was a mess.  While we are sitting at the table he said to me “I don’t want you to do this”, so I told him if that’s what he wanted, I would wait. I couldn’t move forward with this if we weren’t in agreement. It wasn’t a real “don’t do this” from him – it was more of an emotional overload with the thought of what I was going to have to endure. We held each other and cried and after a little while he was ok, and I was ok. We were going to do this.

Wednesday, May 7th   I’ve been waking up every morning with an amazing peace, and this morning was no different. We were off to start my chemo treatment. William was able to take the day off so that he could be there with me for the whole day. And I really do mean the whole day…it was 6.5 hours of IV drugs for the first treatment. When we got to the oncologist office we were expecting to meet with our doctor before the treatment. We had been told several times that we would be meeting with him before this first treatment – but when we got there we found out it was his day off. The receptionists were not very receptive; they were rather cold and short and made me cry. This was already an emotional day and the last thing I need is some receptionist being rude.

Fortunately the ‘treatment’ side of the office is AMAZING! The nurse came out to get me and gave me a big hug and told me it would be ok. Then a receptionist from this same side of the office came over and wanted to hear all about it – she told me not to worry about a thing and that she would sort it all out and take care of everything. A few minutes later she came back with my full schedule including all my doctors’ visits and treatments for the next 4 months. YES! THAT IS HOW A RECEPTIONIST SHOULD MAKE YOU FEEL!

So I was smiling again, no more tears, and it was time to start this chemo thing. I was in for long day – 8 bags of fluid. The nurse who took care of me was fantastic. Before any of the ‘chemo’ drugs you get Benadryl. Anyone who knows me well will be laughing right now – this stuff knocks me out! I had to fight to stay awake – I did not want to sleep. I needed to know exactly what every drug was doing to my body. Next they gave me anti-nausea meds and steroids. This was so I wouldn’t react to the chemo drugs I was about to get.

I’m getting a chemo cocktail called TCH-P. I’ll write another post telling about these drugs and what they do – but they are Taxotere, Carboplatin, Herceptin and Perjeta.  Now don’t those names just sound fun? 🙂

Day 1 of chemo complete – I’ll be back to write more soon.

-Tamika