Chemo

 I'm not great at updating.  I started chemo the week after Thanksgiving.  I also am receiving immunotherapy drugs that help the cancer fight itself.  I will only receive the immunotherapy every 3rd week and the chemotherapy I go in weekly for.  The first week wasn't too bad, but took forever.  They are looking for allergic reactions so they run them slower.  I did have a reaction to one of the immunotherapy drugs but they then gave me Benadryl and flushed the line.  I was just having a harder time breathing but my oxygen levels never dipped. It just felt like I was breathing through a straw.   Once the reaction had slowed down they ran the rest of the medicine and I didn't have any further problems with it. The first day took from 9 am - 5 pm because of the reaction.  My aunt came with me to spend the day and it was fun chatting when I wasn't sleeping.  

The 2nd time I went in for chemo I had caught one of my kids colds and didn't feel great.  My white blood cells were a low and they decided to hold off so my body could fight whatever it was I had.  They gave me fluids and they also had me visit my primary care Dr. so we could rule out viral sicknesses like the flu and COVID.  It ended up not being either of those so they had me start antibiotics which helped a lot.  I had an ear infection by the time I went to my primary care Dr that afternoon so I was glad that we were able to start the antibiotics because it didn't feel great.  When I was at my oncologist my ear didn't even hurt. 

This week was supposed to be my 3rd week of chemo but ended up being my 2nd since we skipped last week.  On Tuesday, when I received the chemo I didn't feel bad at all.  Wednesday also wasn't so bad.  Thursday though I didn't feel great at all.  It felt kind of like morning sickness.  I go in every Friday to receive fluids and that helped a lot.  I definitely feel a lot better now than I did then.  The chemo also made everything taste like medicine without flavoring...maybe like if you chewed up a Tylenol that was supposed to be swallowed.  I was very happy when food started tasting normal today.  

Overall everything has been great.  We are very thankful for everyone that has helped us from giving gifts, cleaning and folding laundry, helping go through clothes and organize, reading to our children, driving kids to piano, dance, and work,  taking me to chemo, checking in with a call or a text and everything else everyone has helped with.  We feel very loved and appreciate all that everyone has done.  I feel like we can never say thank you enough. Don't hesitate to ask questions.  I don't mind answering them at all.