Well here we go. I get to go through chemo again. Like last year (round 1 - docetaxel), I go in every three weeks for an IV infusion for six cycles total. I've already grown used to the familiar bump in my upper right chest like a port was just a natural part of my body that I was born with.
An interesting coincidence, the dates of my second round of chemos are exactly one year to the week day from last year. I tend to like things to go the same way, so I guess someone was looking after me in the scheduling department. If I can get any comfort out of all this, I reckon this is it.
First up is the nurse lab visit. Today that's at 9:00 a.m., so I need to be there by 8:45. Generally this is pretty quick and simple. Check at the front desk, repeat my name and birth date a few times, get the patient wrist band, and then I'm handed a pager and head to the waiting area. After a short wait, the pager goes off and I head over to they do the blood draws. This is the first time we get to use the new port, and it's good to go. First the nurse draws blood through my port, and then sets me up with the tubing for chemo. The jab of the needle is almost nothing. You get used to needles pretty quickly. I wish I could say it's a bonus. Actually, I guess it is.
The lady at the front desk is the same lady who was at the front desk when I started my first chemo last year. I still don't know her name, but she reminds me a lot of the actress
Mary Steenburgen. In another interesting twist of fate, she started working in another area for a while and this is the first time I've seen her at the front desk since she had moved elsewhere. Oh.And that other area was my oncologist's office, so I still got to see her when I was coming in every six weeks for a checkup. But still, first day of chemo and there she was at the front desk, just like she was when I started this whole thing. So far I kind of feel I'm being dropped back a year ago, but with the knowledge of a year of treatment.
After the lab I head downstairs to my oncologist's office. The appointment is scheduled for 9:40 a.m., arrive by 9:25. The wait is normally pretty short. Again, I check in at the desk, repeat my name and birth date again, and then head back to the office. I guess not everything was going to line up. The same girl has taken me back to my onncologist's office since I started. Today it's somebody different. But he's just a nice as everyone else in this place, so the small change doesn't throw me off. Fist we check my weight on the scale outside the office. This time I weigh 157 pounds, so I'm down five from last time. Not a big worry, though, I'm still well within normal BMI range, and truthfully, I prefer to be around 155. Then we head into the office to check my vitals. I tend to get really anxious when I visit a doctor, though really I'm so used to the cancer center, and everyone here is so nice, I'm not sure if I really get the same anxiety. Blood pressure a little on the high side, as is my heart rate, but it's never been enough to worry about.After that I'm left in the room alone to wait for the oncologist.
Quick side note - my oncologist is amazing. Every quality you'd want in an oncologist, she has it. I sometimes think she's my guardian angel. I hear so many horror stories from other cancer patients about their doctors, their treatments, their medications, I can't believe what I'm hearing because it sounds nothing like what I've experienced. It's not just my oncologist, either. The entire staff at the cancer center are incredible.
While I'm waiting for my oncologist to come in, I get a notification on my phone that I have a new test result in MyChart. I look and my PSA has gone up again. This time it's up to 54.76, up nearly 20 points from the last time, so the decision to go on the trial and do chemo again was a good one.
My oncologist will let me ask as many questions I want, and is never in a hurry to leave. She's very attentive and knows my case well. She allows me to work with her when it comes to decisions. I do a lot of research (I'm her "enlightened patient.") and that makes it easier to discuss options with her. I get the feeling that most patients just want to come in and get the magic pill. I've become nearly (but not quite) obsessive about cancer. A good part of my reading is cancer related and I listen to several cancer related podcasts. I don't let cancer define my, but it is part of my identify. Working together with my oncologist gives me some feeling of control over my treatment, and she gives me every opportunity to do so. That's a really good thing mentally.
After brief discussion about the PSA results, which was really no more than confirming that the trial was the right decision, I get the green light for chemo. My white blood cell count generally does't get very low, so I've never had to miss a chemo due to white blood cell count being too low. I love talking with my oncologist, but I don't really have many questions, so we keep it pretty short. The clinical trial coordinator is there as well, and she gives me so forms so I can track when I take my medications each day, specifically what I'm taking for the trial, which is prednisone and abiraterone. (Zytiga) She wants me to start today, same day I start chemo.
Next is the actual treatment. We go up to the third floor where the chemo rooms are. Once again I check in at the desk and repeat my name and birth date. (You get used to it.) This time I get a bed as whoever was scheduled for that room wanted a chair instead. I have no preference, actually, so bed it is. Now one thing I learned about mid-day chemo is to ask for a sack lunch. I don't know if other cancer cernter's have them, but they do here. Bed, warm blanket, sack lunch, it's almost like a mini-vacation! I know someday I won't feel that way, but I'm making the best of the situation.
So this time I'm on a different chemo, cabazitaxel. It's another Taxtane like docetaxel, so I'm assuming the side effects will be similar. One big difference, though, is that there's Benadryl in the pre-drip. I ended up sleeping through most of my chemo, and it was really kind of nice. Other than that, chemo was rather uneventful. My wife drove me howand within a few hours I was in bed and out for the rest of the day.
Cycle 1 done, so lets see what the next three weeks will bring me. I also forgot to take my meds, so I'll start that tomorrow.
