Chemo #1 down, 5 to go!

My first chemo was last week and I made it through! My parents and I arrived at 830 with my cold-capping coolers in tow. It was great to get there so early and have my pick of chairs. The nurse suggested the one in the corner because it had some extra space for my coolers. It was so nice to have our own little area. Mom and I immediately started the cold caps because they need to be on 1 hr before the chemo drip starts. The nurses started my IV and the pre-meds that include benadryl to help with any reactions and some ativan to help me from freaking-the-fuck-out. It took a little while to get into a rhythm with the caps, but after a few changes we felt like pro's! It went much more smoothly and quickly. Unless my father was doing the cap changes, then it was more pounding and shoving. The nurse even threated to check his bags for a sledgehammer. We changed the caps every 20 minutes and it seemed that everytime I was just starting to fall asleep, it was time to change the caps. It made for a pretty rough 8 hours. Plus the 3 hours after chemo. In general it was just a long day, and pretty foggy on the memory. But I do remember getting a lot of amazing visitors! I can't imagine that it a fun environment to visit someone, so I'm very appreciative to everyone who came by! The first few days were very cloudy. I could barely hold my head up. I think a good part of that is that anti-nausea meds. They give you several meds to take proactively for the first 3-4 days and I definitely felt better after I stopped those. My stomach hasn't held up very well either. And when I finally broke down and called the doctor today, I got quite the lecture when they found out I've been having these issues for 10 days and just now reporting them. Apparently, they want to treat you for problems instead of letting you suffer. Strange. And the most uncomfortable side effect- acne. Like I'm 15 and on steroids acne. Unlike anything I've ever seen. I thought that it just came with the territory. You know, the chemo is killing all the stuff in my body that would normally prevent this. But the doctor said it's a reaction to Perjeta. Knowing my luck, only 1% of people have this reaction. All I know is, it sucks. I don't want to leave the house. The other fun thing is the random bloody noses I get all throughout the day. Like all over my desk yesterday. I guess it's pretty easy to tell my platelets are low. But at least this week I've been able to go to work and pretend like I'm a normal functioning adult. Who is terrified of going in public and being around sick people. I can just imagine I would take one trip to the grocery store and wind up with Ebola. Just like at lunch last week when I opened my fortune cookie to find no fortune. That's just how shit around here goes. But all in all, I think it's been a good first treatment. Not exactly what I expected chemo to be like. Nothing like what I imagined actually. And I know it gets a little more rough each time so I'm hoping that I can keep holding it together. And I just want to thank all my amazing friends and family for the support!