The nurse finished going over the post treatment routine with me. She then unhooked the IV from my needle and started to remove the needle from my hand. It was taped on very securely so it took a little work to remove all the tape. It was a little painful as she ripped the hair off the back of my hand. Then she pulled the needle out of my hand and applied a piece of gauze. I held it in place and applied pressure to stop the bleeding. It wasn’t bleeding too much and then she replaced it with another piece of gauze and taped it on. I was just starting to feel the effects of the day. I was a little light-headed and a little dazed but not too bad. I pulled it together, packed up my belongings and said goodbye. They gave me an appointment card to come back in one week so they could check my blood levels. I walked through the lobby, out the front door and walked to my car. I unlocked the car door, put my belongings inside and got in.
I sat there for a minute thinking about the day. I had just received several bags of poison. That’s what chemo is. It’s like spraying the weeds in your front lawn with poison and waiting a few days for them to start dying. The poison was already making me feel a little weird. It’s hard to describe, but I just felt a little off kilter and I was starting to get a mild headache. I started the car and drove to the pharmacy. I arrived and parked my car and went inside to get my prescriptions filled. I just waited because I definitely did not feel like coming back. After about 25 minutes my prescriptions were ready, I left and drove home
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The full side effects of the treatment were still to come. For now, I just felt wiped out. I went inside my house, threw all my junk on the table and lay down on the couch. I laid there for a few minutes, then I got up and put away my clothes, unpacked my lunch bag and sorted out my prescriptions. I had some strong Ibuprofen, some pills for nausea, some pills for anxiety and some pills for sleeping. I was supposed to take the anxiety and nausea pills every four hours.
I decided I would take a shower and it made me feel a little better. I made a light dinner and ate light, as I was feeling nauseous, as if I wanted to throw up. I sat down and started to zone out watching some TV. It was getting late and I figured I would try to go to sleep. I got up and realized I felt like I had been in a fight. It was more like I felt like I had been a punching bag, taking blows to the body all day. I dragged my beaten body to the bathroom so I could brush my teeth. I took the sleeping aid then I dragged myself off to the bed. I laid there for a while and fell asleep.
While I was sleeping the steroids started to produce some of their first side effects. After a couple of hours of sleep, I was awake. I couldn’t get back to sleep, I had anxiety, it was another side effect, and I got up and walked out to the living room. I could have laid in bed and watched TV but I was restless. I was starting to feel my mind racing. I could not read I was a little too antsy for that, but Life always offers a blessing. I turned on the TV and got lucky. My favorite TV show when I was a kid was Walt Disney’s “Zorro”. I was flipping through the channels when I came to the Disney station. They had on a show called The Vaults of Disney. The show was one of the episodes from "Zorro". Even though I could not sleep, it turned out great, as I was able to watch my favorite TV show. I figured if I was going to be awake every night this woulld be pretty cool. After the show was over I just flipped through the channels for awhile and finally I fell back asleep.
More side effects to come………….
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