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Writer's pictureStephanie
Dec 3, 20183 min read

Taking on Taxol


We got our Christmas tree!

November 27, 2018


I know, I know ... another update so soon? But I wanted to do this sooner rather than later because I know SO MANY people were praying for me as I took on this next part of my journey!


So yesterday, November 26th, I had my first round of taxol (my next chemo drug). I arrived at 11:15 am, encountered a bit of chaos, had my blood drawn, met with my AWESOME nurse practitioner and asked a billion questions, and then waited to start my infusion. My pre-meds didn't start until 1:45 pm and chemo didn't start until about 3 pm. During my pre-meds, my anxiety really started to ramp up and I felt like my heart was beating out of my chest. Thankfully, my NP came over and I was able to tell her what I was experiencing and they added a drug to my IV to help calm me.


He just gets more handsome. I just turn into a sickly ghost.

As I mentioned in my last post, taxol has been shown to cause allergic reactions in about 30% of people and so with the first infusion, the nurses administer the drugs more slowly and are quite watchful. For the first fifteen minutes, the nurse actually stayed with me. Typically, if you are going to have an adverse reaction it will take place within the first ten minutes. Thankfully, I did NOT have any reaction! I finished chemo around 4:30 pm. It was an incredibly long day and I was definitely emotionally drained but once I got home, I felt remarkably well.




I was able to shower, rest, eat dinner and watch a movie with my handsome hubs! Our plan was to decorate our Christmas tree but we put all of the lights on and plugged the tree in, only to find 1/2 of the third strand was out. So we didn't get to decorate but we did watch Elf! Christmas season is officially here!


Tuesday I woke up feeling human for the first time since chemo started! It was incredible. I had energy and I felt alert and able to focus. I decided today was the day ... I was going to work out! I put my workout clothes on (which tired me out -- true life with chemo), took a selfie for Instagram so I couldn't back down and went for it!



It took me thirty minutes and I had to take plenty of breaks, but I completed one of the workouts that my trainer had put together for me this summer. It felt good, awful, exhausting and empowering. I was so proud of myself!

 

November 30, 2018


And once again, before I could finish writing my post things took a turn for the worse ... Tuesday night I started to feel strange. I couldn't explain what I was feeling but it got so bad I started to have a minor panic attack. It wasn't a great night.


Wednesday I felt extremely down and had probably one of my worst days since chemo started. Thursday my emotions were less intense but I started having body aches. Today I still feel achy and incredibly tired. I am not sure if the aches are from a virus or a side effect but hopefully they go away soon.

 

December 3, 2018


Well, good news and bad news. The aches went away after about two days. The bad news? I've been dealing with some very painful digestive issues.


Updates & Prayer Requests:

  • I will continue to receive a Taxol infusion once a week for the next eleven weeks. These will normally take place on Mondays, but they could not fit me in today.

  • My upcoming chemo schedule: Round 2 - Tuesday, 12/4 @12:30 pm Round 3 -Monday, 12/10 @11am, Round 4 - Monday, 12/17 meeting with my oncologist at 10:30am, followed by chemo

  • Please pray for my digestive system, that all would start to function normally and I would no longer be in pain.

  • Please continue to pray for my anxiety; I do not like unknowns and as you can imagine, this journey continues to be full of unknowns.

  • Please pray for the health of my family. There has been a virus going around that has made multiple members of my family sick. Thankfully, I have remained relatively healthy but the illness has kept us apart and it hasn't been easy on anyone.

  • Please pray that these next eleven weeks are easier and that I can stay healthy and start to regain some of my strength.

As always, thank you for your love and support!


All my love,









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