Did you know Chemo causes side effects? I'm sure you did. If I was to list all the potential side effects, it would take up an entire blog. Instead, I'll focus on some side effects I have had. EXHAUSTION - this one sucks. I hate not being able to keep up with who I was prior to chemo. Thankfully I know this will not be my forever. Heart palpitations - basically feeling as though someone is inside your body pounding on your chest. The pounding is so hard that it reverberates through the whole body. Lasix is provided to help with this, but so far, we haven't found a tool to help. Swelling in the body - this is usually my extremities and legs. Now, if only one leg is swelling that brings me to the next side effect...blood clots. Although rare, we had a slight scare on 7/23. On 7/23 my heart palpitations were doing overtime, my swelling was bad and the left side of my face kept going numb. We went to the ER, per the direction of my oncologist. Now, going in with symptoms of chest pain, shortness of breath and numbing face gets you a fast pass to triage. While hooked up to the EKG machine for my heart, we addressed the swelling. It was only my left leg swelling, so the potential for a blood clot was high. That generated more tests; Xray, Cat Scan and Ultrasound. I guess we needed to add more tests to my portfolio! Thankfully, all tests came back good. We chalked it up to my anxiety working double-time due to the heart palpitations. Next side effect - body aches...all over...all the time. Losing hair - pictures are posted! Taste gone - this one is a bummer because I do like the taste of food. Oh, did I mention EXHAUSTION? So far, these are it for me. Considering everything we are going through, I don't think these side effects are so bad.
We continue pressing forward with treatment. #KJStrong