Gemzar so far...

Cycle 1 of Gemzar was interesting as we began to learn how my body is going to react to it. In week 2, my bloodwork showed that my counts  - white blood cells, ANC (which is how neutropenic or susceptible to infection you are), red blood cells, hemoglobin, etc.  all went way down.  There was some concern about whether they were too low to do the 2nd treatment, but the decision was made to reduce the dose by 25% and go ahead with it which was a blessing b/c of the recitals the following week.   I was put on a mini-quarantine and had to avoid people as much as possible.  I was still able to teach wearing a mask, doing online activities, and/or using microsoft teams to give "live" lectures online.  My bloodwork on Monday in week 3 showed that the counts had gotten lower but the lowered dose had kept them from a huge drop.  My liver enzymes had shot up 4-5x what they normally run for me though.    Thankfully, more labs on Friday showed that those had come back down by about half and my other counts had started to go up a bit.   I started cycle 2 yesterday, and it will be a bit of a wait & see game as to whether the counts do the same thing this time or if it changes due to being further away from radiation.

Side-effect wise outside of counts, I've had a little bit of a skin reaction. I have super sensitive skin so it wasn't a huge surprise, and thankfully benadryl before treatment has seemed to help that.    There has been quite a bit of nausea, but my doctor has added a stronger anti-nausea pre-med to hopefully help with that as well.    Since we started chemo the day after radiation finished, the side effects may have been worse, but we don't know that for sure.  I've definitely battled some fatigue, but that isn't horribly surprising with chemo starting right after radiation either since both are known to cause fatigue issues.   With the recitals last week & everything else the past month, I also had to push through things a bit more; so, I have been instructed to get more rest this cycle and not push as hard.  Resting is always a hard thing for me, but I'm going to try as I know I need it, lol.   

 I was told that on Gemzar, some people's hair thins but most don't have hair loss.   I was expecting a little more shedding than normal, but my body likes to be "special" in these things too I guess.   On Friday night, hair was coming out every time I ran my hands through it, and within an hour, I had lost a pretty large "toupee" worth of hair .  Thankfully, I have a ton of hair (probably enough for 4 or 5 people, it used to take 2 hours just to roll it in the old "perm" days).  I tried to avoid running my hands through it, but I knew that wouldn't really help  since I had that "hair loss" feeling of my hair being tightly cinched even though there was nothing in it.    On Thursday night for my recital, it took 2 clips to hold back the right side of my hair.

By Saturday morning,  it only took one for the same hairstyle.  

  I continued to lose quite a bit the next 3 days as well; so, I went ahead and got it cut shorter yesterday after chemo so that it isn't as hard if more comes out .and that if some sections are thinner it won't be as obvious.   I know that people may look at these pictures and think - you  still have lots of hair (which I know, but some sections are much thinner than normal) Being a little proactive helps me to not worry as much about it as well.  My doctor said I probably would need to avoid coloring it as that could cause more to come out....so shorter will make that process a little easier as well.

I am really happy that I was able to do both recitals last week.  It was so much fun, and I'm very grateful to have a team that will work with me to ensure that I can still do some things like that.   Here's hoping that this cycle will go well and maybe level off count wise so that we have a better idea what to expect in the cycles to come.  Appreciate prayers always, and hope everyone has a good week!