First chemo treatment

I hate needles! I have undergone so many tests and been poked and prodded in areas that I didn't even know existed!  I had my first chemo treatment on Thursday, May 26th.  It was a tough day. I was at the hospital from 9:00-5:30.  Mike took me and was later surprised by a visit from my brother, Jimmy. Guess he didn't have enough of me since we spent the entire day prior at MGH running lab work and scans. Love you little bro!

Jimmy presented me with a goodie bag.  The content of the goodie bag made me laugh! He added sticky notes on miscellaneous items such as body soap with a message of 'use this daily!' and a foot brush and a note of  'you need a pedicure!' Despite his twisted humor, it was memorable and made us all laugh including the nurses.

Could have been a coincidence or a sign but I was assigned to infusion room #9. Number 9 has always been Carter's favorite number. During the infusion, I'd often look up and thought it was a sign that he was thinking of me.

My chemo treatment pre-surgery plan is 12 weeks long.  Every four weeks, I will have all 3 infusion drugs (Taxol, Hercepton and Pertuzumab). The weeks in between, I'll have one infusion of Taxol. At my first treatment, two third into the Hercepton loading dose, I felt extremely cold and started shaking uncontrollably.  Everything happened so fast. I remember telling Mike to go get nurse Anne. Upon his return, I was shaking to the point, I was moving the chair. I could not stop.  I could not speak without slurring, I had a very hard focusing and went from being extremely cold to being hot. I cried but it wasn't because I was sad. I was angry and had no control over my body. They stopped the treatment and gave me a medicine to stop my shaking.  Unfortunately that medicine made me feel sick and I started to vomit.  I was so scared they would have to stop treatment all together. We now have a new plan that involves pre-medicating me before chemo. Because they had to monitor me closely, the first session took longer than expected.  I'm hopeful that subsequent treatments will go smoother and quicker. I was told only 15% of patients have a reaction to Hercepton.