Chemo Round One - Done

Carrie made it through her first round of chemo. Thursday was a fairly short day and only took about an hour. She had one of the harder medications that can cause the most side effects, but luckily no nausea. She seems to go back and forth between sweats and chills at night, but nothing serious. They've given her a lot of nausea medicine so that seems to be helping. Friday was a longer day, close to 4 hours. They had to give her 2 full bags of fluid with the chemo because that one has a high risk of kidney toxicity so the fluids help flush the kidneys.

Overall, the first round went really well. They took blood friday to check her levels and liver and kidney functions and so far, everything has been great. She will go back to Birmingham next Friday, February 26 to have blood work done again - her doctor said her levels will be lowest 7-10 days after treatment so they want to monitor them. She will also have an echo cardiogram done that friday as well to make sure her heart is handling the medicines okay - one of them can really affect the heart so they want to make sure they stay on top of that. And she'll meet with her doctor after the blood work and echo and if everything appears to be okay, they'll keep on schedule to start the next round of chemo on March 11.

Until then, Carrie is going to talk to her doctor here in Auburn to see about getting a port put in at our local hospital so we won't have to travel to Birmingham. She is going to TRY to work a few days a week depending on how she feels. She wants to try and work as much as she can for now, and it will probably be good for her to keep her mind somewhat busy and hopefully keep her strength up as much as possible. She's home from Birmingham and will be resting all weekend and the first part of the week. She is doing pretty well considering the long week she had. She's not nauseous or sick (praise the Lord!!), she's just worn out and feeling somewhat sluggish, but her spirits are high and we hope she handles the chemo like the champ she is! We will keep everyone updated on how she's doing, and as always, thanks to everyone for their prayers and support.