My mom had her first Doxorubicin, Doxil, Red Devil, Red Death treatment. My dad took her down to the Cancer Center around 8 am. They got back and did blood work to check her counts etc. Then they put her in one of the Chemo chairs. They explained all of the possible side effects which are what they say online. (Slow death in a bag I'm tellin ya)
I got there around 9:45. I came down later because I wanted to be there all day in case dad had to go home. Around 11 am they started her Doxil. They were only doing 60 cc's an hour b/c they wanted to see how her body reacted to it. She had maybe 20 cc's in when her chest started tightening. They slowed it down, added more histimine blockers and then continued. They ever so slowly bumped it up to 125 cc's/hour. Her throat started to swell. She had that nagging feeling in her throat, she tried drinking but it just wasn't helping. They stopped her treatment, pulled the Doxil off of her IV pole & pumped her with Benedryl & Pepcid. Pepcid is another histimine Blocker. That took about an hour, they spoke to her oncologist who really wants her on this crap. After she was nicely drugged they started her treatment again, said that we'd go until 5:30 P.M. and whatever was left was left, we got as much as we could in her.
Dad left around 2-3 P.M. he was looking extremely gray and just in general not feeling well. The rest of her chemo went off without a hitch. I filled out some of my Mom tell me a story book and we chatted. Around 4:30 P.M. Mom started sweating and getting hot. She looked a little bit pale. She took her blanket off of herself and was preparing to leave. I said, "Mom what's up?" She said, "We're leaving at 5 right?" I said, "No they're running your treatment until 5:30 and then they'll shut you off if you're not done." She said, "Oh, well hell." LOL! It was the sweetest thing ever. She was so ready to go.
She actually finished her treatment at 5:27pm. She wasn't all that thrilled about that. LOL! I got her stuff packed up, got the car warmed up, and we left around 5:45 ish. I was a little bit cranky, not because of anything she had done, but because I was sad. I was hoping against hope that this chemo wouldn't agree with her. That she wouldn't have to take this crap but alas I suppose with enough histimine blockers they can give you anything. :/
Yesterday morning I anxiously awaited her phone call. I wanted & needed to know how she was doing. She was pretty nauseated. It was 8:30 or so when we got to my mom's house and she was looking ok, but you could tell she wasn't feeling the greatest. She had an rx of Compazine at the pharmacy but the pharmacy didn't open until 9. Mike, the babies and I went to the pharmacy at 8:45. God love Dan Boian, he was already there and let me pick up my mom's meds. Anything to make her feel better. She felt better after she took the Compazine. Her day was spent between farming, playing on the computer, and sleeping. It's ok Mama, you're in the fight of your life right now, you sleep as much as you want. We'll take care of everything else. I promise.
When we went to my mom's yesterday morning, dad wasn't fairing so well. He just didn't look good. He was tired. Mom's chemo treatment had worn him out. He just can't handle being out of the house for 6-8 hours a day. He slept most of the day.
The family pictures that I had planned didn't happen. That's ok though. We'll have more weekends and I just hope that mom doesn't lose her hair too fast. We're shooting for 2 weeks from now. Unless my ex husband doesn't get the kids next weekend. Then we'll do them then!
Back to mom. She's in for 6 months of this crap. Once every 4 weeks. She's on the lowest possible dose which is good. We're hoping her side effects will be minimal. We are going to have dad take her to her appointments, then as soon as I get off work I'll go down and sit with her for the rest of her treatments so dad can come home. I'll get there about 2.
If anyone would like to sit with mom please let me know. When you go in please explain to her just to take her treatment like she would if dad or I were there. She generally sleeps through most of it, but we like for someone to be there just in case she needs something. Since her appetite is still ok, she really likes vanilla frosties from Wendy's! LOL! It's actually pretty boring sitting there but you get to know your chair 'mate'.
Also please understand that it's not a dark dungeon. There are 21 chairs, most of the time they are full. You will hear beeping, oxygen machines running, IV poles being moved around (yes the patients get up and walk around!), but most of all you'll hear laughter. Yes laughter.. it's soothing to the soul.
~Lisa
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