The day started off at 4:30 am so I could get to the center by 7:45 am. That gave me time to take care of things at home before leaving and getting some breakfast and of course COFFEE. Once I had checked in I was called back for blood work followed by a 30 minute presentation to help explain how chemotherapy treatments worked and what side affects I may have. Next was a brief visit with one of the cancer doctors to explain the first phase of my chemotherapy treatment, which will be once a week for the next six weeks or as long as my radiation treatments last. Also I don't need any special diet at this time.
Once in the treatment room they started giving me my infusions (IVs) here is a list of what I was given and brief description of what they are for:
Palonosetron (Aloxi) is used to prevent nausea and vomiting that may occur
within 24 hours after receiving cancer chemotherapy.
Dexamethasone (Decadron) is a corticosteroid, used to treat certain types of cancer.
Diphenhydramine (Benadryl iv) Helps control nausea.
Randitidine (Zaniac iv) Used to help with Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
Paclitaxel (Taxol) A chemotherapy drug used for ovarian, breast and lung cancer, it works by stopping the growth and spread of cancer cells.
Carboplatin (Paraplatin) A chemotherapy drug used against some forms of cancer (mainly ovarian carcinoma, lung, head and neck cancers).
These infusions took about 4 hours, only because they were my first treatments and they wanted to make sure I didn't have any reactions to any of the medications. My next infusions should only take about 2 1/2 hours. So far I haven't had any reaction to anything other than being light headed for a brief time during the initial infusions.
Once finished with the chemotherapy I had my radiation treatment and home at 3 pm. I still feel great and am very pleased with the outcome of the day. Now I am going to relax with a couple of ice cold adult beverages and have some leftover turkey and fixin's for dinner.
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