Round 1 … DONE!

As I go through this process of treatment, I want to continue to share my experience with you all. This first round turned out to be not as scary as I thought.

On 10/15/2020, I got up to get ready to go into my first ever infusion treatment for my follicular lymphoma. I started the day as normal, waking up at 6 am, with a slight change, gave Penelope a bath and then I showered. As much as it was my first treatment day, it was Penelope monthly flea and heart worm day so gave them to her then we went on our daily morning walk. My parents (along with other friends) doing what they do best, are always searching to see what I can do, even drink, to make the cancer go away. Found some information that drinking guanabana (aka soursop/graviola) helps in reducing inflammation. I found some guanabana leaves on Amazon so I brewed a cup and drank some before heading out for treatment.

Since I didn’t have to be at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center in La Jolla until 10:30 am, my mom made breakfast and I made homemade juice (from my newly juicer given to me by Daniel and Nikole) to make some time before we had to head out.

We left the house at 9:30 am and headed to La Jolla. The drive there, I was thinking and getting nervous as I had no idea on what to expect, how I would react to the medication, and overall experience being at the cancer center. We got to the cancer center and with COVID-19 rules, my parents could not go in with me to the infusion center so they dropped me off and took care of Penelope while I was in treatment.

I checked in and waited in the waiting room for about 30 mins until I got called into the infusion center. Those 30 mins seemed like forever. The waiting room had some people, everyone wearing a mask and social distancing, while we all waited. I was or at least it seemed that I was the youngest one in there.

I finally got called up and was taken back to the infusion room. I had to get weighed and even measured for height as that dictates how much of the Rituxan (immunotherapy) I would get. I was then walked over to where I would be sitting for the next 4 – 6 hours. I was so surprised that it had a super nice view (see below) and would be comforted by looking out and seeing all green 🌳😃

My nurse for the day was Kristen and she would be with me all day long. Since this was my first time every taking Rituxan, Kristen was telling m that the infusion begins really slow so I would be there for six hours.

She started prepping me by starting the IV and giving me pre-meds that included an anti-nausea, benadryl, steroid. I had to wait about 30 mins for those premeds to take effect to then start the Rituxan. She provided me with a menu if I wanted to order food since the day was going to be long. By this time, it was already 11:30 am so I would be getting hungry any time soon.

It was then time to start the Rituxan and Kristen told me that it would start very slow for 30 mins then increase the dose for another 30 mins. I was like 1.5 or 2 hours in when I started feeling an itch in my throat and ears. I had to tell all my nurses whenever anything was wrong. They were all super attentive and I appreciated that so very much. I told Kristen about my reaction and she ended up stopping the Rituxan infusion and gave me another 25mg of benadryl and pepcid via IV. That took about 15 – 20 mins to take effect. The itchy throat and ears slowly but surely went away. With this reaction, this delayed the infusion time. Since I wasn’t even half through the Rituxan bag, Kristen was telling me that I would be there longer than six hours. 😥As I still need the chemotherapy infusion to take before I could go home. I was so sad about that. I really wanted it to be done and get home. I called my mom to let her know that I would not be done by 5 pm that more than likely I would be done by 7 or 8 pm.

Once the infusion of Rixtuan started again, it went more smoothly and I was done by 5 pm BUT I still had the chemo to start. The bendamustine (the chemo) would be a 10 mins infusion and then I would have a 30 mins of observation. The chemo infusion went smoothly, no reaction or issues. I was finally able to go by 6 pm.

My parents picked me up and we went home. My mom had made caldo de pollo (chicken soup) so I got home to eat some. I was hungry by that time so it was super delish and soothing after that long day. I took a shower and went to bed by 8 pm. I had another day of chemo on Friday, 10/16/2020, so had to rest up and get at it again.

On Friday morning, I woke up feeling with a lot of energy and no pain. It was such a strange feeling but I went with it. Took Penelope for a walk and then get ready to head out for Day 2 of treatment. We got to Moores Cancer Center around 10:30 am as my infusion appointment was at 10:45 am. As my experience the day before, I waited and went into the infusion center 45 mins later. This time, my view was not that lovely. LOL! As I was not going to be there no more than 2 hours. I had the nurse come over and let me know what was going to happen that day. I was going to get premeds, again, this time only the anti-nausea and steroid, after 30 mins, I would start the chemo (10 min infusion) and lastly a 30 min observation. Another nurse came over to start my IV, she was super nice but GF tried 2 times to find a vein and she couldn’t so she called another nurse to try. This last nurse came over and was SUCCESSFUL, Thank God! After that, it was smooth sailing. I was out of there by 1:30 pm. Once again, my parents picked me up and went home to rest.

As I mentioned before, I didn’t know how I was going to react or what I was going to feel after treatment. I do have to say the overall experiance at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center was wonderful. Everyone was very attentive and they all had smiles on their faces that made you feel very comfortable, as this experience isn’t the most comfortable.

I can now tell you that I had some nausea and tiredness (with some stomach issues 💩) for about 4 days. I did get some pills to take for the nausea and I took them for 2 days. During those 4 days, I rested quite a lot and slept quite a lot and had minimal type of food as some of it made me more nauseaous. I also had my trusty therometer by my side since I had to take my temperature ever so often to make sure I didn’t have a fever (100.4 degrees). I also had some major bruising after all the poking and probing to find that sneaky vein. I do think I got lucky that those were the most of the symptoms after the immunotherapy and chemotherapy.

During those first few days after treatment, I had my parents and a few riends take care of me and bring some goodies. Of which, I truly appreciate your help, love and support! ❤️

I am happy to report that as of Wednesday, 10/21/2020, I started feeling less nauseous and tired and was the best feeling in the world. 🙂 Today, 10/24/2020, Penelope and I walked over to get coffee at Dark Horse Coffee Roaster and did not feel tired at all. One of the best feelings ever!

ROUND ONE …. DONE! With some side effects but overall GOOD OUTCOMES! I have high hopes that by the end of this all I will be in a WAY BETTER PLACE! ❤️

WEAR MASK, SAVE A LIFE! 😷