I get my first radiation treatment on Thursday, and another infusion of Cetuximab the same day. I’m a bit worried I’ll have the same reaction I did the last time with the chemo. But I’m also at least somewhat relieved to hear from others that the first infusion is by far the worst. Two days or so after the first infusion, I felt pretty much as usual, but I’m noticing the little indications of the rash that is common with this type of chemo. Seems limited to a red rash around my neck and chest. The daily pain has receded once again, and it’s only rarely that I feel any pain in my mouth. Mostly when I open it real wide to bite down on one of the Dagwood sandwiches Denise is known to make. So, no pain for now. I’m not sure that’s a good indicator or not. No pain is a good thing of course, but….
This will be my last week of coming into work for a while (probably six weeks or more), so I’ll be shifting into fully working and managing my IT team from the home office on Kirby Court. They’ve been prepped for this and I feel good about my team continuing to do what they need to do to support Key while I’m not physically in the office.
I’ve been listening to this song by Coldplay and thought I’d share it with you. The main melody is based on an older song by one my favorite bands from the 70’s named Kraftwerk. Coldplay took that original melody and juxtaposed it with completely different words and meaning. It’s one of those melodies that seems to stick in my head for days.
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Coldplay – Talk
Oh brother I can’t, I can’t get through
I’ve been trying hard to reach you ’cause I don’t know what to do
Oh brother I can’t believe it’s true
I’m so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you
Oh I wanna talk to you
You can take a picture of something you see
In the future where will I be?
You can climb a ladder up to the sun
Or write a song nobody has sung
Or do something that’s never been done
Are you lost or incomplete?
Do you feel like a puzzle, you can’t find your missing piece?
Tell me how you feel?
Well I feel like they’re talking in a language I don’t speak
And they’re talking it to me
So you take a picture of something you see
In the future where will I be?
You can climb a ladder up to the sun
Or write a song nobody has sung
Or do something that’s never been done
Or do something that’s never been done
So you don’t know where you’re going and you wanna talk
And you feel like you’re going where you’ve been before
You tell anyone who’ll listen but you feel ignored
Nothing’s really making any sense at all, let’s talk
Let’s talk, let’s talk, let’s talk.
My Mom and I at first chemo
What a day yesterday! I had my first infusion (chemo) at Northbay. It took a while, which I guess is normal for the first “loading” dosage. We showed up at 9:30 am and we were finally done around 1:30 pm.
To start off with, it took two nurses to find a good vein in my wrists or hands to work with, and on the 4th jab into the back of my right hand, they finally got things going. Don’t get the wrong idea, they were great and attentive nurses, I just had cold, shy veins. Started off with saline, then added some benadryl to prevent any allergic reactions to the cetuximab. Seconds after the benadryl went in, I felt a blanket of tiredness sweep over me. It was pretty amazing. Then they added the cetuximab. I really felt no change whatsoever at that point. Felt like taking a nap though! I was real happy to have Denise, my Mom and Dad there with me. That made it very comforting.
After we were done there, my parents took Denise and I out to lunch at the Blue Frog. It was raining and cold all day, but suddenly I started feeling very cold during lunch, and this quickly turned into the chills as we drove home. By the time I got home, it was all could do to get my clothes off and jump in bed. I had the full-blown chills and could not stop shaking and developed a fever to boot. The way I figure it, my body was in self-protect mode against the “intruders”. I had read that flu-like symptoms are typical after your first infusion, so I was half-expecting it. I slept (restlessly) from 4:40 pm to 7:30 am the next day. Actually, let’s not call it sleep at all.
Today I’m feeling much better. Sluggish and a bit cloudy, but still able to work at home for the full day. I had planned on joining a group of friends on a bike ride through Gordon Valley on Sunday and I have no intentions of missing that!
Pain scale today: 2 (10 being the worst)
p.s. Thanks go out to Vern for fixing the door on my truck! What a great friend.
