one down!

Today was the first chemo treatment. 
Yesterday I was nervous and anxious about the unknown. 
Today I wasn't nervous. 
Today I wasn't anxious. 
Today I was almost a bit excited to get it started, and just felt really peaceful about the whole thing. 
That had nothing to do with me. 
That was God hearing all of your prayers and wrapping his arms around us, comforting us just as I know that so many of you have been praying to happen. 
THANK YOU!!!!

Our plans got a little wrench thrown in them yesterday when the doctor's office called saying that I needed to get labs and an echocardiogram done as soon as possible.  I was able to do the labs yesterday, but they couldn't get me in to do the echocardiogram.  So that was scheduled for 7:30 this morning.  It all worked out thanks to friends who were willing to care for the boys.  But it meant for a very early wake up time.....5:30am.  The sun was already up and the boys got up without any fuss, so it worked fine.  But I'm really tired now.  Didn't get to bed until midnight and then the steroids I had to take were making me fidgety so it was hard to get to sleep.  So not so much sleep last night = dozing on the couch this afternoon.

Anyway, we started the chemo around 9:45 and left around 2:30, and the actual infusion of the chemo went great!  No problems with it going in at all.  The only tiniest of things was when I got the Benadryl.  It made me a little whoozy and sleepy, but as long as I could talk to someone I could stay awake.  Brian was there in a chair beside me, and there were plenty of ladies to talk to!  The infusion room is small with about 8 chairs, and they were all full of the sweetest women.  I learned so much just from talking and listening to them about what I might expect in the next few days as far as side effects.  Such strong women with great attitudes and a willingness to share their stories.  I have to say that I almost enjoyed the chemo!  Did I just say that?  I know I won't enjoy the side effects that may be coming, but I loved talking to these, not just about the cancer but about books, movies, family, etc.  I brought a book, some magazines, my laptop, and my phone with me also so that I would be occupied the whole time.  I really only used the phone and read a few pages of a magazine.  The rest of the time was spent chatting.   It made the 4+ hours go by so much more quickly! 

And we are most definitely very happy with the doctor and his staff!!  They were so caring and attentive.   We met with the doctor first, who spent a lot of time with us again just going over the nuts and bolts of the plan of treatment and answering any questions we still had about anything.  And the nurses were awesome in the infusion room.  They were right there if we needed them, yet not hovering.  They explained everything and were so good about answering questions and making sure we were comfortable.  I was convinced even more today that we made the right choice in oncologists.

And dinner came to our door about 5:00.  Oh, what a blessing!  It was so so so good, and I'm eyeing the cake Jana brought for dessert.  I'm waiting for the boys to come in so we can all eat dessert together, but it's getting more difficult every minute.  I thought I would feel pretty good this afternoon and maybe even be able to make dinner, but I'm glad that my friends thought otherwise!  I do feel pretty good.  I only felt a bit nauseous once when we got home, so I just took some medicine and continued my nap.  I'm just tired now and hope that a good night's sleep will fix that!

Tomorrow I go back to the doctor's office to get a Neulasta shot to help keep my blood cell counts from dropping much.  It will be a short 5 minute visit.  Then I go back next Wednesday and the Wednesday after that for the Herceptin - about a one hour visit.  Then the full chemo day on the 20th again.  So that's the plan, and we're glad to get it started!