End of Week 1

The first week of chemotherapy and radiation treatment is now over. On Friday I had the chemo and the "fanny pack" with the pump removed so I was "free" for the weekend. It was nice to be free again and to be able to shower without being tethered by tubes to the fanny pack. One thing nurse Judy (whom I met on Friday and who was rather funny in her own way) told me was that I should stay out of the sun, as I will be much more susceptible to burning while under this treatment (and I have always been a "red or white" person when it came to tanning, or burning, anyway) so that will preclude some outdoor activities for awhile. She also told me to watch what I eat, especially to avoid acidic foods. She also warned me that I may develop "baboon butt." She said to deal with that (whatever it is at this point), every time I sit, I will need to scrunch my butt up like I'm trying to hold something in and then I should be able to sit down. I told her when I practiced it, that I lock my knees when I lock my butt and locking my knees makes it kind of hard to sit down. But she said I just need to lock it for a moment and then release and then I will be able to sit down. Wow, I'm looking forward to that!.

I had also been told earlier that one of the symptoms I may notice from the treatment will be diarrhea. Well, over the weekend, I would say that they got that one right. I pretty much stayed home Saturday and Sunday (I did do a little shopping for Cyndy on Sunday) and I certainly did visit the bathroom frequently. Fortunately, at least until this point, after having some queasy feelings on Monday and Tuesday, I didn't have any more nauseous moments the rest of the week. All in all, the week went pretty well, although Judy told me that would be my best week of the five so I guess I am expecting some change in symptoms during some of the remaining weeks.

There is really no pain in having the chemo attached to me. I mainly have to deal with the fanny pack and the tubes. The radiation goes quite fast; they take three pictures of me and that's it. Once a week it's a little longer as they have to take some extra pictures but it still goes pretty fast and there is no pain in that either. Like they have said, the radiation is like getting an x-ray. On each Tuesday I will meet with McFly and then, of course, Monday is hook-up day and Friday is detach day. This Monday I will also meet with Dr. Y, the chemo doctor. As mentioned before, I have been working a little late each day at work to put in 8 hours and so far that has not been an issue or a problem.

So we're getting ready to start week 2. Thanks to those who have been asking about where my reaction to week 1 is on the blog. Sorry it took awhile to post. Sometimes I just don't feel like writing. But I will keep you posted on what's going on and how I feel about it, as best I can anyway. Thanks for all your love and support.