May 3rd was the first day of chemotherapy. We had no idea what to expect. We were told to be there before 9 AM. Basically, the way the chemo days ran was this: Mike waited in one of the many comfy chairs in the chemo room. The very first thing the nurses did was take his weight and blood pressure. Then came the bloodwork. Having the PICC line in made this quick and easy. The blood was sent to the lab. Every week they needed to check his white blood count to make sure it was high enough to do chemo. If it was too low, chemo would be delayed until next week. Doing chemo at this point would knock his counts down to a dangerous level.
Before they administered the chemo drugs, they did an IV drip with saline. They needed to make sure his body was well hydrated to lessen the side effects of the drugs. This took more than 2 hours. Then they administered the real stuff. First, they injected two medications, calling it a “push”. The nurse had a large syringe, and administered the drugs straight into the PICC line. One needed to be done slowly over a period of 10 minutes and the other over a period of 2 minutes. The next two chemo drugs were done by IV drip, with a flush of saline in between every one. Mike sat there all day as fluids and toxins were dripping into his body.
The dreaded day would end anywhere between 4 and 6 PM. Some days I spent the entire day with Mike. We were so grateful to have the help of my mom and many others who watched the girls during these long days.
On the first day of chemo he had an allergic reaction to one of the chemo medications. They administered Benadryl into his PICC line and made sure he was stable before they sent him home. This happened again every time, so we were able to administer Benadryl at home those days.
The effects of the medication began sometime during the evening of that first day. He was extremely fatigued that first evening, and had no appetite. He went to lie in bed shortly after we got home from the hospital. And that was pretty much where he remained for the next 4 days. He had a lot of nausea, despite the 4 different kinds of anti-nausea meds he was taking. He had no appetite and experienced extreme fatigue all week. He went up to 76 hours without eating or drinking anything and often slept for2 or 3 days straight.
The worst part of it all for him was probably the terrible taste in his mouth left by the chemo meds and the extreme smell sensitivity that developed these weeks. One of the chemo drugs they push is red, and as soon as that one went in, Mike could taste it. It looked like it tasted, metallic, blood-like, and it coated his tongue, throat and teeth. Even if he was feeling well, he still wouldn’t eat due to the nasty taste. Everything tasted awful, and smelled even worse. That smell sensitivity took a lot of getting used to. I had no idea we would have to adjust our daily lives according to that. I learned very quickly that baking, cooking, and cleaning could not be done during the chemo week. Any smell would cause more nausea, and the smells were very distorted. Things like cupcakes that usually caused his mouth to water, made his stomach turn. We were very blessed to have many, many gifts of food and meals brought to us during these weeks. I have to say a huge thanks to my sister-in-law, Melanie, who took it upon herself to arrange for meal deliveries twice a week. God sure blessed us through you during such a difficult time.
Usually by Thursday, Mike began perking up and feeling a little better. He began eating some things. There were a few foods that he could tolerate during his sick weeks, like ice cream Drumsticks and chicken noodle soup. Later on in the week, he forced himself to eat strong flavoured foods, like salt and vinegar chips and Pepsi, to try to over-power that chemo taste. By Friday he could tolerate most foods already, although his sense of smell was still distorted. He would grab his plate of food and eat in our bedroom, which had become his haven. That was the only place that didn’t have nauseating smells for him.
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