Chemotherapy round 4 was a little less tolerable than rounds 2 or 3 but still not too bad. The whole thing took an hour longer than usual again because they were quite busy for some reason. It took about four hours instead of three. My husband ended up in the waiting room instead of sitting next to me because there were no empty chairs. He did get to come sit with me for maybe about the last hour, once things quieted down a bit.
There were two new-to-me chemo nurses, since both of the usual ones retired at the end of last year. My chemo nurse, Alex, was very nice and seemed to be just as competent as the nurses who retired. I didn’t really interact with the other new-to-me chemo nurse, Evelyn, but I’m sure she must be just as good. Based on my experiences, it seems like my oncologist’s office hires really good chemo nurses.
As usual, I returned the next day for my Nyvepria injection. That’s the stuff that helps me grow white blood cells.
While I was getting my injection, I asked the person administering it to me, Aaron, about my port removal. I was hoping I’d be able to get it out soon. He told me to ask my doctor about it when I have a check-up with him on February 28. He went on to say that he generally recommends to keep it for at least six months or so, in case they decide I need to do another round or something. It would be terrible to have the surgery to get it out just to turn around and have the surgery to put it in again, so that seems like sound advice to me. But we’ll see what the doc says.
Another thing he told me is that I have to go in to have my port flushed every two months while I’m not getting chemo. That will hopefully prevent it from creating clots or other complications. I’ll do that for the first time at the visit on February 28.
Side Effects
I continued to stay off my low-dose naltrexone (LDN, which I take for my ME/CFS) until I recovered from my round 4 side effects, in the hopes that staying off it would continue to make my side effects less intense. I’ve since restarted it and the tiredness/exhaustion/fatigue (especially in the morning) is really bothersome. It’s been like that every time I start or increase LDN, so I guess that’s just how my body reacts to it. Hopefully that side effect will fade as my body gets more used to it again.
My bone pain from the Nyvepria injection was minimal again this time.
Here are my round 4 side effects:
- Blurry eyes
- Bone pain (not as bad this time)
- Breaking out (papulopustular eruption, “chemo rash”)
- Fatigue
- Gross feeling belly (“chemo belly,” not as bad this time)
- Headache (during infusion)
- Heartburn
- Heart rate increase (from the steroids)
- Hyperactivity (from the steroids)
- Joint pain
- Loss of taste (my least favorite)
- Mentally out of it (significantly during the first few days)
- Muscle fatigue
- Muscle pain
- Orange urine (forgot to include this during the first three rounds)
- Skin flushing (from the steroids)
- Sweating (from the steroids)
- Tired/sore jaw (especially while chewing)
Once again, I didn’t have my usual few sleeping days after I came off the steroids this time, which I greatly appreciated. I’m still attributing this change to the lack of LDN.
My nose is still a bit runny and/or stuffy. My nasal passages are still dry and prone to bleeding, so I’m still working on managing that. Getting a bit tired of the bleeding.
Chemo Check-Up
I had a check-up with the nurse practitioner on January 24. I was feeling fine by then and mainly wanted to check my labs to make sure my white blood cell count is good before I start interacting with people in-person again. My labs came back great. I’m a little anemic at the moment but she said even that isn’t too bad considering where I am in my treatment.
Hair Loss
I’m pretty sure my hair has started regrowing already! It’s the teeniest fuzz but there’s much more of it than there was previously. You can kind of see in the photo below if you look at the top of my head, where the hair is contrasted against the headboard of my bed.
Ringing the Bell
As it was my final round of chemo, my chemo nurse asked if I wanted to ring the bell. Ringing the bell is a tradition when you’re done with chemo. I said, “Kind of.” I did want to do it, but I felt embarrassed to make so much noise in an otherwise silent room. I did say yes, in the end, because it’s (hopefully) a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am all about experiencing everything I can while I’m alive to do it. I rang the bell and everyone clapped. It was a nice feeling. And it definitely created a sense of having completed chemo, even though I still had to make it through my week of side effects after. If you’re going through something similar, I highly recommend you ring the bell. ❤️
Next Up
Now that I’m done with chemotherapy, it’s time to move on to radiation. I have my first appointment with my radiation oncologist tomorrow (January 30) to get things sorted for my upcoming radiation treatment. I’ll let you know what I find out from that appointment!
Thanks for reading, friends, and for sticking with me while I make my way along this unexpected journey.