Chemo Port Day!
My port placement was yesterday afternoon and other than waking up a little slowly and some nausea, all went well. Rhys brought me home and there was the cutest bag hanging on our door from Brandon and Stacy. Filled with tons of stuff I can use throughout chemo AND I get to show up in style :-) Thanks so much!!!
Rhys got me into this crazy HUGE hoodie that came in Charlene's goodie packages (THANK YOU!!!) and I slept on the couch most of the evening. By the time I woke up, it was time for bed. I responded to a few texts and talked to the kids for a bit and then I was out again.
I was a little sore this morning, but didn't sleep too badly. My grandma gave me a pillow that she used during her treatments and it helped prop me up a bit so I wasn't so uncomfortable sleeping. So glad you passed that to me! THANKS!!! As you can tell, we really have a village and are beyond blessed to have everyone who has reached out with well wishes and prayers. We love you all so very much!
I went to work today and stepped out for a bit to get an echocardiogram this morning. I had a bit of blood on my dressing (totally normal) when I woke up, but when I went to gown up, I noticed it was soaked through with fresh blood. The echo tech called a clinical nurse to come take a look and they decided to call Dr. Rager. I was able to support my right side since she was working on the left anyway and we completed the echo. They had to run an IV instead of using the port until it got checked out. I left there, drove around to the other side of the hospital and checked in at Dr. Rager's office. She got me in quickly and said the incision looked good. She changed the steri-strips and dressing so I would be able to easily see if there was any additional bleeding. She doesn't think there will be and she said just make sure to support that breast until it's healed up. Easy peasy!
Tomorrow, I'll get to work until about 2:30pm then back to my new home away from home for a bilateral breast MRI. Supposedly, this is a crazy face down, breasts through holes, and in backwards experience. Everyone I've mentioned this to is as surprised as I was when Dr. Rager told me about it so I decided to consult Dr. Google tonight. That is one interesting looking contraption and I get to partake :-)
The big unknown right now is Friday. I'm super anxious about how I will react to chemo. There are so many different side effects and I know I won't really know what to expect until it happens, but there should really be a chart for this type of thing. Maybe based on age, stage, and chemo drug: you can expect nausea for 2.4 hours, 37% hair loss between day 16-18, and joint pain will last less than 24 hours on day 3. Wouldn't that prepare us so much better? Wishful thinking; it's a toss up and we'll find out in about 36 hours.
TODAY'S SILVER LINING: I called Julie (my Nurse Navigator) and she said for the first four rounds of chemo, I can keep my acrylic nails! I know that seems so stupid, but I've been getting my nails done for 25 years and they are an attachment of me LOL I was super bummed when I read that I would need to remove them, but I get to keep them until April 1st when my weekly chemo starts as long as I'm careful, bring my own tools and keep them dry. It's the small things people! :-D
