Chemo #5 DONE!!! - Oct 14, 2022 (imported from Facebook)

Hey everyone! I finished up Chemo session #5 today!!! I have one left on Nov 4th 🎉🎉🎉 

 Since William Wen is back from Taiwan, he joined me today. Unfortunately, our car got scratched on the driver's door in the hospital garage. So that's really annoying. We always take care to park somewhere that leaves lots of space. And for some reason, the dashcam footage skipped the half hour around when the damage would have occurred... Oh well. I guess it happens. 

 This is a photo of my spot today in the infusion center at the hospital. They have 16 chairs set up similar to this, and 2 private rooms - used for ones that need more privacy, not sure exactly what... There are glass separators between the chairs, and a curtain for privacy if you want it. My second chemo session, the first one in the infusion center, was actually in a private room because the chairs were all filled and I was going to be there all day. 

I am usually there about 6-7 hours between drawing blood, waiting for the results, talking with the Oncologist or his Physician's Assistant (PA), and then getting the pre-meds (benadryl, pepcid, a few other things), and finally two doses of Chemo - Paclitaxel (TAXOL) that takes about 3 hours and CARBOplatin that takes about 40 minutes. Today I arrived at 9 am and left just after 3:30pm... 

 So now I have a few days of nausea followed by a few days of achy legs and joints... Throw in some constipation (I know, TMI, but someone has to be real), twitchy eyes, chemo brain (I forget words), blurry vision, tiredness, and who knows what else and that is my next week or so... 

The tiredness is happening more because of the accumulation from chemo. My ability to fight infections is also lower each time, so I need to be really careful in about a week and a half when its at the lowest. 

 Based on my Cancer Antigen (CA125) test last time, I am technically in chemical remission as the PA put it, so that is awesome. ☺️ They did run the CA125 test again today, so I'll update the post when I get the result (tonight or tomorrow). 

 Results just in (Saturday 11:30am) 
Cancer Antigen (CA) 125
7/11/2022 624.0 (H) 
8/12/2022 71.6 (H) 
9/23/2022 12.4 
10/14/2022 9.9 🤩🤩🤩 

 But I'm almost done. All of the above side-effects should go away once I'm done chemo and its out of my system. Then my hair should grow back too... not sure how long that will take, but it will eventually. Who knows what color or if it will be curly or straight... 

 I will need to go on a "maintenance" drug to keep it in remission, and I'm sure I'll have scans and tests every so often. Not sure about that schedule yet. 

I have a survivorship (as they call it) appointment 3 months after my last chemo. It will be to discuss taking care of myself going forward, what to expect, things like that... 

 That's all of my updates and information sharing today. I share so people can see what its really like. I know all cancer patients go through it differently, but this is my experience. I feel lucky that we caught it when we did, and it's because I knew that something wasn't right. Always get a second opinion if you don't feel the first one is right. 

 We are making plans for the future, and I'm looking forward to including many family members and friends in those plans. We love to travel, so as soon as it's safe and the timing is right, watch out world 😊 

 Love to all of you 🥰

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