Chemo Round 4

Chemo round 4 was on Wednesday and I’m hoping it was my last one!

It was the smoothest experience getting chemo that I’ve had yet but it’s been the hardest to bounce back from. Because of the blood clot with the first PICC line, they put a PICC line in my other arm for just a few hours on Wednesday so I could get chemo through it but avoid the risk of another clot. That made for a long day at MD Anderson — the PICC line installation procedure takes about an hour, then it’s followed by an x-ray to confirm the line is in the right place in my chest, then I got the chemo infusion for about three hours, and then the IV team came to my room to remove the PICC line.

Since then, I’ve spent the last few days snoozing and trying to recover. I’ve slept 12 hours each night and napped during the day. In my normal days, I never nap and I don’t watch that much TV, so this is quite a change pace for me! I’m definitely feeling the effects of chemo wearing me out.

Next up is a PET scan in two weeks. If the scan is clear, then I’m done with chemo and I’ll move on to radiation. If it’s not clear, I’ll do a few more rounds of chemo.

I follow several cancer-related social medias accounts and I’ve learned that cancer patients often refer to this period as being full of “scanxiety” as they wait learn the results of their scans. I definitely feel nervous waiting to find out is next for me in this journey. To my prayer warriors, let’s send some big prayers for a clean scan in two weeks!