Back to chemo - Round 1 of 6 prior to lung surgery

I started chemo again yesterday. A few changes since last year. 

1. The oxyplatin dose was reduced to 80% because last year the neuropathy was so bad and I was having trouble swallowing pills and always felt like I had a lump in my throat.

2. The pump that I take home with me changed. In the past I had a mechanical pump with a battery and a timer. Now I have a much lighter little elastomeric pump that looks like a little lemon. No battery. The medicine is in a balloon that constantly puts pressure trying to push the medication out and there is a flow-restrictor on the tubing that uses my body heat to control the flow of the medicine. 

3. I tried Zofran this time instead of the perchlorperazine. I also have a cannabis prescription (1:1 THC:CBD) but I haven't refilled that yet.

How it's going...

The infusions went well yesterday. When they were setting up the oxyplatin, I was told to watch for itching in my hands because after 6 rounds of oxyplatin, the body can develop an allergy to it. If I develop itching, they will give me meds and then future rounds, the medicine will need to be delivered over 4 hours, not 2. Luckily no itching this round.

I was doing ok until last night at dinner time when I took the Zofran. I got really tired, had a headache, and felt a little of that medicine-head type feeling. So I went upstairs and went to sleep. I woke up a few hours later and still had a headache but not as bad and not so much on the medicine head feeling. I was up for a bit to do my nighttime routine and play games on my phone while I tried to get the energy to do my nighttime routine (inhaler, teeth, nightguard, nose rinse, flonase, bathroom - nothing crazy).

My mouth and throat are definitely more sensitive to the cold right now. It wasn't too bad with room temp stuff and I wasn't getting any pins & needles on my hands or feet so I got brave and made myself a smoothie (about 10 oz of almond milk, ~5 oz Fage 0% greek yogurt, 1 banana, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 2 tbsp ground flaxseed meal, & about 1/2 c of frozen mixed berries or strawberries) for my my lunch since I ate crap for breakfast. I am able to drink small sips, let them warm up in my mouth before swallowing and wait for my mouth to warm back up before I do it again. I'm eating seaweed in between sips because seaweed is delicious! 

My body feels a bit blah but my nausea is barely noticeable so I'm not taking anything for it at the moment. Generally the flourouracil just makes my stomach/body feel weird. Not necessarily bad but not good either. I also tend to get constipated during it so I keep a stool softener/vegetable laxative on hand as well. Unfortunately, you will probably hear a lot about my bowel movements because I have to tell just about every doctor and nurse that I talk to how well I'm passing my bowels. Sometimes I just want them to say poop. Just because. It would be a lot more amusing.

I get coronary vasospasms from the flourouracil so I have to take amlodipine. Unfortunately, I didn't realize my pharmacy hadn't filled it until Friday, so I called them and they filled it that day but I forgot to pick it up until Monday afternoon so the first day I took it was on the day of chemo. So I did/do have some chest discomfort but nothing major. I'll take it easy between now and the next round and by the next round I'll have had the amlodipine in me for a solid 2 weeks so I should be good to go then.

Otherwise I'm doing ok. Yesterday and the night before, I was definitely not feeling good about chemo. Not quite dreading it, but close. I know I can handle it and I know what to expect but for sure it's not fun. I still got this though!