Surviving Chemo Round 2: Food Poisoning or Chemo Effects?

My first round of Chemo came after taking a cumulative exam for graduate school that covered 3 years of work plus 3 years of prerequisites. Though my labs were normal, my blood pressure and heart rate was a little higher for me that first day of Chemo. I guess these vitals are a good read of the body and life circumstance. (addendum: Just found out today that I passed my graduate exams!!!!!! I get to graduate on May 21, 2013. Back in January I didn't think this would be possible due to timing. But so so very grateful that the window between mastectomy and chemotherapy allowed me the time to take these exams. Relieved and so happy).

For this second round of Chemo, my labs definitely showed the effects of Chemo -- white blood cells and red blood cells were both low. Expected. Chemo is supposed to break the body down like that in order to rid cancer BUT the good news was that my blood pressure and heart rate was back to normal athlete-like states. This is huge. These can impact overall effects.

Chemo went well. In fact, no problems at all. And the overall day went well. There was, however, one two hour period that felt like I was in the undertow of a wave. Fetal position, aches, moans, tears...I was experiencing cold sweats, shivers, nausea, vomit, constipation and diarrhea all at the same time. This is what was common back in the day. But today these effects are more controlled. In my case, there are two great reasons why this happened and are now under control:

First, I miscalculated the amount if steroid I needed to avoid these effects. The day before Chemo one is supposed to start steroids. I did this -- but took only half the amount needed by accident. I misread "2 tablets twice daily starting the day prior to Chemo" as two tablets total -- I took 1 tablet twice that day. Then I thought steroid would be in my IV like last time. Wrong. I was supposed to take two tablets that morning of Chemo -- which I didn't . The result: my body had a hard time processing the Chemo without the right amount of steroid, hence the horrible two hour inner tsunami. The good news: I'm back on schedule and my body feels great.

The double whammy is that I also got food poisoning from eggs. So, both Chemo and food poisoning played hard ball together.

Again, in the grand scheme of things two hours out of 24 is a blessing. It could have been worse. I still had 22 wonderful hours. In fact, my husband and son got to watch initial set up for the day. My 7 year old son asked so many great questions and told me I was brave. That alone warmed my heart throughout the day. And all family and friend words of encouragement and prayers helped me stay strong.

Thank you from the warmest part of my heart!

At chemo set-up...

Mommy and Son Chillin' after a long but great day.

My son getting a kick out of Mommy's Chemo Infusion Machine (a.k.a Pirate Ship Producer Machine)