Chemo & Immunotherapy -- 1st Treatment, 1st Cycle

We had a busy week in Atlanta. Mom had some breathing tests completed that showed a wide variety of things with regard to her lung capacity and function. I wish she would've let me get a video of these tests because they were truly something to behold! It was quite a workout for mom (I swear, I think she had to put her eyeballs back in a few times) and she was sore afterwards. The tests make you use your lungs in ways that you wouldn't normally. She did great and the test results produced nothing surprising, according to the pulmonologist. We will take that as good news!

She also got an echocardiogram that was standard for starting chemo. They said it provides a sort of baseline to reference, if problems arise later as she goes through treatment. The test results for her heart were good!

Her labs were great, with exception to her potassium, which they just gave her a few tablets to get those levels up a bit. Also, her labs returned an elevated level with regard to tumor markers, but that wasn't surprising since we know she has cancer already. But those levels will tell us as we go, if the treatment is helping or not. Obviously, we are hoping those levels go down in the future. Beyond that, we won't know much about how the treatments are going until we see the CT scan results in 2 months, after 2 cycles. We do hope that her breathing gets easier, as the chemo and immunotherapy help to shrink whatever is present in her lungs.

We knew what to expect with the chemo process, so no big surprises there. They gave her all her pre-meds, and she was already pretty tired from the anesthesia from her port surgery earlier. So it came as no surprise that she was ready for a nap when the benadryl hit her system. Both the immunotherapy and chemotherapy took only 2-3 hours with everything. And then we were done!

We came back to the hotel and it took me almost 2 hours to get take out from a local restaurant while she rested in the room. That was a fiasco and a long story that basically equates to the CTCA needing to get their transportation department in order. It is a BIG frustration recently when we go. Things are already stressful enough, so it is really disappointing when even getting food is complicated.

Aside from that, it was a quiet night, but mom didn't sleep well. She was really sore from her port surgery and I think she had a hard time getting comfortable. Not to mention, the chemo pumping through her veins probably didn't help.

Today, she woke up and felt pretty good aside from being tired, and then as the day went on, she started feeling worse. I also noticed that she's getting more winded as she walks. One of the side effects of the immunotherapy is shortness of breath, so to pair that with her already having shortness of breath, isn't totally surprising. She went to bed fairly early and said she feels generally yucky. I'm hoping tomorrow she feels better, because tomorrow is her birthday! 💝

We go back in 2 weeks, instead of weekly like we first thought. Her doctor said he can double the chemo dose every 2 weeks with her immunotherapy, instead of spacing it out and having her come every week. No reason to believe that doing so will be less effective, so we are going with it!

 Mom -- fresh out of surgery. She was happy about her pink wheelchair! 💟