Feeling good

Round one down, five to go.

It's day one post chemo and I actually feel pretty good. I feel a bit nauseous, but I think that's due to the clinical trial drug. I noticed it when I took my four capsules last night, I had the sensation I was going to hurl them back up. The same feeling started after I swallowed the capsules this morning, but I took an extra special anti-nausea medication and it seemed to lessen.

It's all worth it if the Olaparib works.

Yesterday went quite smoothly, all things considered. The clinical research nurse met me in the chemo clinic at 8:30 a.m., we went over all the last minute paperwork and she showed me how to complete the study drug diary. She then handed over the first four capsules and much to her amazement, I swallowed all four, fairly large pills in one toss with a swallow of water. Her mouth literally dropped open and she said it takes some patients 15 minutes to get the drugs in. To which I replied, "See, I told you I was the ideal candidate for this drug study."

I had to wait an hour after taking the drug at 9:03 a.m., during which my chemo nurse gave me two more pills - one was Benadryl to prevent an allergic reaction and one to reduce heartburn. I started the pre-chemo drugs at 9:34 a.m. - with the second stick of the I.V. - and was done by 1:50 p.m. That's the quickest I've ever had all the drugs and associated liquids pumped into me. I'm not sure if it was giving me some of the drugs in pill form instead of via I.V. or whether because of my first allergic reaction in London, they always titrated the drugs in slower, but I was pleasantly surprised when the nurses said, "All done."

Even though I was tired at bedtime last night, I experienced the typical post-chemo restlessness and then when I woke to go to the bathroom at 2:30 a.m., I stayed awake for at least an hour before I drifted back into dreamland.

So all in all, I'm still doing well. I know my side effects are going to get worse before they get better, but at least I know that I'm doing something to kill that blased cancer. Mentally, I feel much better that we've started. I feel much more hopeful since I'm getting Olaparib in addition to the chemo.

I happily assume my role as the cancer slayer.

Tina