Cycle 5 Complete

Cycle five was basically a treatment reboot. New drug administration, new environment, and new side effects. Here's how it all went...

The big difference this cycle was that I had my treatment done through IV rather than orally. This change required me to have my treatment at VCU. I expected it to be cramped at the infusion center since the waiting room is always crowded, but there was a lot of space back there. The nurses were really nice and great about getting my chemo started quickly. Things seemed to move quicker than when I was at Penn which was awesome. We arrived at 7:30 and left at around 12:30. The support services were great too. They had service dogs on two of the days, and a preacher on two days. I appreciated seeing the dogs. They really took my mind off of what was going on for a little while, and put a smile on my face.

The treatment itself was both better and worse than before. The big reason I switched was because of anticipatory nausea. I was getting so sick just taking the meds that I wasn't getting 100% of the drug down and it was getting worse every time. The IV chemo fixed that, and honestly it wouldn't matter if I threw up at the hospital because it's in my veins anyway. Other than the anticipatory nausea and anxiety being essentially eliminated, everything else seemed at least a little bit worse. Fatigue wasn't something I dealt with too much with oral chemo (I was able to work everyday with it), but with IV I became very tired as the week went on. I slept 13-15 hours on most of the days. I also dealt with nausea, and still threw up six times this cycle. It makes me feel a little better knowing that the nausea I dealt with on oral chemo was not all in my head, but also makes me sad that I have been unable to solve the nausea this long. I felt bloated and full from the steroids which caused some of the nausea. They prescribed me Zantac to help with that, and I'm also going to use Healios this cycle. I've mentioned that I was going to try the Healios in prior cycles, but never really gave it a chance because it was triggering my anticipatory nausea. This cycle I'm going to try a new flavor of Helios and stick to it no matter what.

Cycle five was definitely harder than I expected. I planned on being able to go to work in the afternoon of each day, and not really needing my mom to be down here. I never made it to work, and by the end of the week I couldn't even take care of myself. Even though the side effects as a whole were worse I would still much rather IV administration than oral because I wasn't all stressed out. My quality of life improved with IV so I'll take that as a win.

I was very fortunate to have my mom with me for cycle five. She was a real lifesaver, and I would not have been able to get through the week without her. I wish I could take care of myself, but I can't. Hopefully this cycle will be better.

Five Cycles Down, Three To Go!