5-14-2022 Update
I don’t have much to share from the doctors and nurses who are treating Lauren, other than our observation post first chemo treatment.
As Lauren had stated, the last time we spoke to the oncologist, he confirmed that Lauren’s heart is in great shape to handle the stressors of chemotherapy and that her PET scan came back with no noticeable spread of cancer to other parts of her body or other organs. All great news considering.
It has been an interesting week nonetheless as we both patiently waited for the onset of side effects from chemotherapy. As Lauren stated in the last blog post, she had felt short little stints of nausea but was able to mitigate it with the medication prescribed by the doctor. We are so thankful that it is working as prescribed. On Tuesday when she received her Neulasta shot, the most common side effect is something along the feeling of growing pains within her “larger bones” such as the hips, femur, and chest area. This is caused by the medication helping her system generate white blood cells which we all know is generated within the core of those bones. To help with the pain in the bones, the oncologist suggested that Lauren take Claritin, since it contains an antihistamine; somehow the side effects of the Neulasta shot and allergies are similar?
It's now Saturday, Lauren is doing extremely well with minimal side effects. It’s a blessing but also a total mind bender considering how much medication was pumped into her system, and everything we have seen, read, or heard from firsthand experiences. Lauren’s energy levels are noticeably lower than before, and she takes a lot of naps, but it’s not what we had expected. What is going on here? Is this how it will be for the first 8 weeks? It’s four sessions, since they are every other week, then it will be once every week for the remaining 8 weeks, but the question remains, what will happen during the next session, and what will happen when treatments are once a week? We both had a tough time this week because we were waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the worst to come. I didn’t want to leave her side even though she felt “okay” because I didn’t know if side effects would come swiftly and unexpectedly, my biggest fear.
As of now, Lauren is trying to get her energy levels back up. She continues to walk a lot with friends, family, and even the neighbors have taken a turn. She even went to our trainer on Friday albeit doing less intensive workouts and our trainer being mindful of her port and her right arm to make sure she doesn’t over extend it over exert herself.
We continue to monitor things day by day, but so far so good. One down, 15 more to go.
Her port is healing extremely well and has now taken on a life of it’s own. First it developed eyes and a nose, then it decided to pick up smoking, and now it’s turning into a troll.
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