Chemo

I started my infusions of chemo yesterday. Karen stopped by to visit for a bit at Katmai. I had my infusion of FOLFOX for 3 to 4 hours and Greatland came by and hooked up my fanny pack with the 5FU that I will have for 2 days.

Actually felt a little hyper for a while afterwards, like having an energy drink. Speaking of energy, I have had not had any caffeine for several weeks now. Caffeine can make a person have an urge for a bowel movement, so I quit the caffeine when I had so much pain. For now I have decided to try and stay away from sodas and coffee. Also after the treatment I noticed I was a little pale, my nose was cold, and my jaw would hurt some when I first start chewing.

The doctors have me taking L-Glutamine powder and L-Carnitine capsules everyday to try and help with any hand and foot syndrome I might have. They have me taking 6 capsules of the L-Carnitine a day, the normal dose as a dietary supplement is only one a day. So we (Karen and I) had to find lots of bottles for a 16 week supply. Walgreens had buy one get one free. We wiped out all of the Walgreen stores in town, since each only had 3 or 4 bottles.  I also filled a couple of prescriptions yesterday to help with nausea and vomiting that can arise the first few days after the infusion. One of them, Emend, was $568! My portion was only $50. They told me for my next cycle in a couple of weeks to skip the Emend and see how I do. They have 3 other medicines for the nausea that I can try if I do have a problem. So if I do well without the Emend I could save $100 a month. I would have to say it has worked, I don’t feel too bad.

So this is the beginning of the end of my treatments! Of course I will have numerous scans, colonoscopies, and checkups over the next few years.

Been raining here the past few days, so no biking.