Chemo #1

Well, today is the day. I start CMF chemotherapy which stands for the three drug cocktail that I will be receiving every three weeks (6 times; total of 18 weeks):

•C yclophosphamide
•M ethotrexate
•F luorouracil, which is also known as 5FU

For someone in my situation, I would typically be walking into the unknown but ... I visited infusion services three times when I was recovering from lumpectomy #1 (infection problems) and saw lots of folks undergoing chemotherapy. The funny thing is that at the time I thought, "Whew, at least this is something I will never have to do since I will only be getting radiation treatments." Yeah. That plan didn't exactly work out. I saw folks lounging in arm chairs, attached to IV's (see the picture above!) Some had lost all their hair (there were men there, too) and others had not.

So I have that experience under my belt and I watched the chemo section of a DVD that talks about what happens during each breast cancer experience (suggested from the folks at breastcancer.org). And I know that I can't prepare too much for the side effects since it often works out differently for every person. But I have the coolest looking scarves that came in the mail the other day so I guess I am ready for any hair loss (which might not even happen and if it does, it won't happen for a few more weeks anyway).

In dissertation updates -- I am reading some articles suggested from the WPA list serve and will bring those with me to chemo since we will be there for a couple of hours. I will finish this darn thing -- I will!