Ok, warning this post contains details concerning side effects and details that are not pleasant. If you don’t want to hear the gory details stop reading here…..
So for those of you reading about side effects wondering what to expect, well it differs from person to person. That being said I will go into what I have experienced in the hopes that it gives you some insight. I’m currently on FOLFOXIRI with Avastin. For those counting – that’s four types of chemo. The side effects to date have included neuropathy (sensitivity to cold – like needle pricks in the fingers, toes and throat), skin darkening, cold like symptoms (sore throat & runny nose), muscle spasms, hair thinning, exhaustion, and the fun ones – nausea, dry heaves, vomiting, and diarrhea.
This second round saw the arrival of the dry heaves – all the fun of throwing up without the committal of actual vomit. The nausea seems to be getting progressively worse. Also, this second round saw a drop in my white blood count which triggered the docs to give me a shot to boost my counts. The shot also comes with its own side effect – bone pain. At first I thought I had just had the worst nights sleep ever or that my back went out (never had that happen so I wasn’t sure what that felt like). But then other parts started hurting too. Aleve helps, but it still hurts.
My recommendations:
1. Carry a trash or plastic bag in your purse for emergencies, vomit or otherwise.
2. Carry a change of pants and underwear just in case
3. Flush-able wet wipes are your friends
4. always have nausea and Aleve/pain meds on you
5. driving yourself to and from chemo is hard – your beyond tired, our sick and MDA is a big place. Sometimes it would be nice to get pushed around in a wheel chair
6. When on chemo – sleep is your friend. Your not nauseated when your asleep. Your back will get sore from sleeping, but its better than vomiting
7. Netflix and an IPad come in very handy during 7 1/2 hours for starting chemo
8. For me – when I;m on the pump for 5-FU, it helps to sleep at an incline.
9. Atkins protein shakes are good when you don’t feel like eating but need to absorb something
10. You have much more energy if you eat solid foods
11. It could be worse
Well I hope I haven’t forever altered the way you see me. If I come up with more I’ll let you know. Round three starts next week. SPOON!