Chemo Begins

September 1, 2006, I met with Dr Bachrach. He went over my MUGA Scan and my blood work. The results of the scan and blood work were normal and this meant the chemotherapy regime would begin.

Round 1: Wednesday, September 5, 2006, I arrive at 1:30 pm. Of course I'm nervous, wouldn't you be? I've only known people that went through cancer treatment, I don't know what it's like personally. Well, today I'm going to find out!

The room is sterile and the nurses are friendly. I'm nervous and my heart is in my throat. I feel like I'm going to be sick and I haven't had any drugs yet! I'm working myself up and I begin to feel it go out of control. The nurse comes over to me with all the chemo bags. She proceeds and the only thing I can think of to do is close my eyes and breathe. I try my best to relax to keep myself calm and it begins to work. Once she begins, I feel calm and peaceful. I feel like everything is going to be okay. The treatment took about 4 hours. When I arrived home, I began to feel tired. Within an hour of getting home I felt like a Mack truck hit me. That was it, I was down. I could barely move. Dr Bachrach was right and then the next week I could do a little more.

After about 10 days, my hair begins to fall out. Not much, but I can tell. I refused to let the loss of my hair get the best of me. So I had a surprise for my Dad. I went to see Dad and we went out to lunch. After lunch, I told Dad that we needed to cut his hair. We took the chair into the carport, he sat down and I proceeded to cut his hair. When I was finished I said, "Okay Dad, it's my turn. You get to cut my hair!" He said, "What? Are you sure?" "Yeah Dad, I'm sure", I said. So we traded places and I was in the barber chair. He proceeded with a reverse Mohawk, and continued until every last strand of hair on my head was gone. I was in control, not cancer or chemotherapy, it was my choice when I lost my hair!

Thursday, September 15, 2006, even though I'm going through the chemo process, I still have to have mammograms. So today at 1:00 pm I had my mammogram, nothing abnormal, everything is good.