VIII. ABVD

It's officially been two weeks since my last chemotherapy treatment. While most days are good, I still have some..well.. not-so-good days. Today is one of them. While I am no longer actively receiving treatment, the lasting effects of treatment still hit me every now and again.

Chemotherapy takes a toll on one's body, mind, and spirit. When I first started treatment, I would really let it get to me. The days leading up to treatment I would become very anxious, anticipating and going over the "what ifs" in my head on loop. What if I get sick during my infusion, what if there's something wrong with my port, what if I have a weird reaction to the treatment, what if the treatment isn't working, what if I start to feel really nauseous, what if my symptoms are worse than the last treatment. I would drive myself absolutely crazy with my own thoughts. A couple months into treatment I realized that I was my own worst enemy. I realized that while these thoughts were logical and reality-based, they often times never even played-out. OR sometimes they would happen, like the time I did have an odd reaction to treatment, (that's a story for another time). But no amount of worrying ever changed the outcome. I had to put my faith in my oncology team, support system (family and friends), and prayer.

Speaking of treatment, I guess this is a good time to talk about the specific treatment that I received to cure my Hogkin's Lymphoma! The type of chemotherapy that I received was called ABVD. ABVD is an acronym for the names of the drugs that were used to kill the cancer cells in my body (Adriamycin, Bleomycin, Vinblastine, Dacarbazine) (sounds like Harry Potter spells, I know!) My original treatment regimen consisted of ABVD infusions every two weeks for a total of 12 treatments (6 months). However, after my fourth treatment I completed a PET scan to see how my body was reacting to treatment. The PET scan revealed that I did not have any active lymphoma in my body (woohoo!!). Because of this, my doctors felt comfortable with me completing a total of eight treatments, rather than the 12.

So, I was scheduled for treatments every other Friday. While the days stayed the same, the time of each treatment changed. Many of my treatments were in the morning (which I definitely preferred), but a few of them were scheduled for later in the afternoon. Let me fill you in on what a scheduled day at Dana Farber looked like! Below is an actual scheduled morning visit from June.

Date of Infusion: 6/14/19

4:30 AM - Wake up! (Roll out of bed and put super comfy clothes on)

6:50 AM - Arrive at DF Laboratory Services (Blood Drawn)

7:30 AM - Vitals taken at the Hematologic Oncology floor

7:40 AM - Meet with doctor (discuss vitals, lab work, symptoms, questions/concerns)

8:00 AM - Take anti-nausea meds (thank goodness for these!!)

8:30 AM - Infusion time! (infusion lasts about 2.5 hours)

11:00 AM - Time to head back home!

12:00 PM - Sleep for the next 48 hours

Hope you enjoyed this post! In my next couple of blog posts I'll be chatting about hair loss and other side effects that I experienced during my treatment journey! Be sure to follow along :)