Thankfully I feel like the doctors have managed my side effect very well and I don't have too many of them that linger. I have been warned to look out for Neuropathy so during the 7 day window after treatment I try to stay away from touching or eating things that are too cold. The couple times when I did touch something cold (from the fridge) it felt like I stuck my finger tips in snow. And if i drank something colder than room temperature it made my throat feel scratchy. I also notice that my fingers feel "sticky"- they will almost freeze when I am trying to move them. It seems to be temporary but it always catches me off guard and makes me pause what I am doing. Some other side effects are hyper sensitivity to temperature, smells, sounds, and light. Then there is the standard nausea, food aversions and diarrhea. 

One side effect that I often get asked about is hair loss. I have definitely noticed some thinning but thankfully I think I have grown a luscious mane through pregnancy so I have some hair to spare.  My drs have told me to expect thinning but that the type of chemo they are giving me "typically" doesnt cause full hair loss like some of the chemo they might give to a breast cancer patient. The types of chemo I am getting are: 5FU, Oxaliplatin, Irinotecan, and Avastin. Before I started my treatment I thought that every type of chemo causes hair loss so it was great to hear otherwise. I am hopeful it will stay this way for me. 

2.18.25
All went smooth but sitting down to write this blog and having to think about treatment 4 makes me feel nauseous. After my blood draw we got to meet with Dr. Scott for the first time. He is Dr. Kasi's PA and we really liked him. He broke down my blood-work panel for us and did a deep dive into explaining all the different things they are looking at and tracking in my blood. It was very insightful and we left the meeting feeling good about how treatment is going. My bloodwork also showed that my CEA levels have been going down. We have an MRI scheduled for March 10th that will show us even more how the treatment is affecting my body and the liver. 

Immediately once they started the side effect meds I could already feel a change. When I would look down at my coloring book it felt like my eyes were bouncing and I started to get pretty tired. My least favorite part about the treatment is this medication called sinvanti- I can taste it when they do a push through my port and I cant even look at it while they are doing it because it is so gross to me. 

After they gave me the 3rd type of chemo it felt like all of my nerves were jumping around. I had Mike put his hand on my Jaw just so he could feel what I was talking about. I think they are called vasiculations.  I mentioned it to the nurse and she gave me an extra dose of the side effect medication. (so now I get 3 total doses of it)

Instead of sitting around in the chair the whole time it felt better to move around so Mike and I walked around for a little bit down the hall and back and it got my mind off of it all. The hallway walls are covered in beautiful art that local artist display and one of the volunteers helping that day had some of her artwork up so she talked to us about it for a bit. 

I went home with the 5FU bag again and this time 48 hrs later my friends Amy and Colleen came with me to get it taken off. 

I dont think I was as sleepy after this round but I felt more foggy and aside from the nausea and flu like symptoms my muscles felt like they were shriveling. I made it a point to try to eat as much as I could even if I wasnt feeling like it and I think that helped with my overall symptoms. 

2.3.25 
Leading up to treatment 3 I was already nervous. I was hopeful they would be able to do the full treatment (since we had to cut back last time) but I was nervous about how intense it was going to be, and it was just as intense as I anticipated. This treatment I got the full FOLFOXIRI (it sounds like a video game to me) they increased the amount of Irinotecan and they added Avastin. So basically 3 different types of chemo and an anti-angiogenic therapy. Before I was diagnosed, I had no idea there were so many different types of Chemo. All of them target different types of cancers. Then, when I got the 5FU pump off I did another Tempus blood test and got another neulasta shot. 

The first couple days after the infusion I felt mostly tired but as the week went on I started to get extra sensitive to smells and had some major food aversions. I didnt want to eat anything, I felt nauseous, got even more tired (took about 2 naps a day), and writing this almost a week after treatment I just now feel like I am coming out of the "chemo fog". Yesterday (Tuesday 2.11) I got a Vitamin C IV and had to have them pause it mid way through because I thought I was going to get sick. After some zofran I was able to finish the IV. 

I am once again so thankful for all my family and friends who have been carrying me through this wild journey.