Side Effects (The First Two Weeks)

During the two weeks following my first chemo treatment, each day was a new adventure in discovering how I would feel. It was very frustrating not to know from day to day how I was going to feel because it made it difficult to plan anything, including whether I’d be able to go to work. I hoped that, with each successive treatment, the side effects would become more predictable and that I’d be able to manage them better too. Little did I know then what wishful thinking that was!

Each day I diligently recorded my temperature in the morning, what time I took any medications, any side effects I noticed, and whether I had a bowel movement. Keeping such a log was a recommendation from chemo class and, chemo or no, I’ve always been a good student. I kept this up for the first couple of weeks and then abandoned it when I realized the doctor wasn’t going to look at it or give me a gold star for my efforts.

The most noticeable side effects I experienced were fatigue and loss of appetite. More on the loss of appetite later. Suffice it to say that I had zero desire to eat and virtually nothing sounded appealing or tasted good. I ate a little bit each day simply because I knew I needed to, not because I was hungry.

Those first weeks were also marked by lots of stomach discomfort and several unexplained high fevers. The fevers came with severe chills, muscle weakness, sometimes nausea, and exhaustion. Advil or Tylenol took care of them within a few hours every time but they were high enough that I should have called the doctor instead of just waiting for them to pass.

Fatigue

I learned the hard way that I could no longer “get up and go” in the mornings like I was used to. I tried it several times and ended up feeling exhausted by noon every time. My internal clock continued to wake me up fairly early every morning but the day went much better if I took it easy—say, by lying in bed looking at stuff on my phone for half and hour followed by watching a bit of TV while I gagged down some breakfast—instead of rushing to get showered and dressed and out the door.

I also needed more down time during the day—not necessarily sleeping, just resting. I felt pathetic about getting tired so easily and not even having the energy to walk as quickly as I had before but I couldn’t control it. Further, when I tried to “power through” or do too much, I ended up completely wiped out that evening or the next day.

Day by Day

Here’s a daily breakdown of the first two weeks after the first chemo treatment—because I know you want to know all the gritty details. Remember that the first chemo was administered on a Thursday.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday (22 – 24 July): I felt pretty good all weekend. No nausea or vomiting, thank goodness. Also, no appetite but that wasn’t a big deal. I stayed home from work on Friday as a precaution and took it easy, not even getting in the shower until 1:30 p.m. On Saturday I even felt well enough to go see a movie: Star Trek Beyond. Interestingly, the special effects battle scenes in space made me rather motion sick, which I think was a consequence of the chemo since that had never happened to me before.

Monday (25 July) I went to work and lasted most of the day before I was just too tired. Monday evening, however, I started having terrible stomach cramps and some mild nausea.

Unfortunately, those continued Tuesday (26 July) and into Wednesday (27 July). I couldn’t tell if I was constipated or needed to throw up or if something else was going on. I just knew that my GI system was not working quite right. I didn’t go to work either day and didn’t do much except lie around moaning.

On Wednesday (27 July) I called my oncologist’s nurse advice line to tell them what was going on and they had me come to the office to see the nurse practitioner. She gave me some good advice to deal with the stomach cramps, etc., which helped tremendously. However, I got hit with a wave of nausea on my way to see her and didn’t have any anti-nausea meds with me, so it was a couple of hours until I was able to get home and take something, and then it took over an hour to kick in. Overall, Wednesday was a pretty miserable day.

Thursday (28 July): I was over the moon to wake up with no stomach issues whatsoever. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean that I was without side effects. My doctor had warned me that the worst of the fatigue would hit a week after chemo and he was right. I was planning to go to work in the afternoon but the sheer effort of taking a shower and getting ready just wiped me out and I couldn’t go. Thankfully, I did feel better in the evening, well enough to go for a little (slow) walk around the block and run some errands. It was nice to feel mostly normal again for a few hours.

On Friday (29 July) I woke up feeling good—no stomach issues, no nausea, no fatigue. Hooray! I went to work and lasted just over half a day. I got hit with a wave of nausea and fatigue after lunch and had to leave. On the way home, I started getting chills and by the time I got home I had a full-on fever, on top of the nausea and accompanying tummy discomfort. I was so uncomfortable I didn’t even want to move from the sofa to get something for the fever—though I eventually did—and I just lay there moaning for the better part of three hours.

Once the nausea and fever finally dissipated around 7 p.m., I felt fine. I ate saltines for dinner. The fever returned overnight Friday into Saturday but went away when I took some Advil.

Saturday (30 July): I felt GREAT! All day! Like, pre-chemo great. I hardly believed it or trusted that it would last all day. I was more tired than pre-chemo but otherwise felt like a normal person again. I was even able to eat normally, which was wonderful. Blueberries with my breakfast cereal! Veggies with my lunch! An apple in the afternoon! I had lunch with a friend that afternoon and spent some time window shopping with her. The whole day felt like a miracle.

Sunday (31 July) was much the same as Saturday. I rejoiced at being able to have my favorite salad for lunch and energy to go outside and enjoy the summer weather.

Monday (1 August): I was now into week 2 post-chemo and felt pretty good overall. Monday morning I went to work, planning to stay the whole day. An hour after I arrived at the office, however, I felt short of breath, slightly nauseous, and had tingling in my lips and face. I called the nurse advice line and they told me to stop taking one of my medications, thinking I might be having an allergic reaction. They called in a replacement prescription to the pharmacy and I left to pick it up.

While waiting at the pharmacy, I was suddenly hit with such a strong wave of nausea and dizziness that I thought I was going to pass out. I sat down and dropped my head down and the kind pharmacist brought me water and juice. Within about 10 minutes I felt well enough to go home but by then I had developed such severe chills that my teeth were chattering. I sat in my car—hot from being in the summer sun—for several minutes trying to warm up. Part of me honestly didn’t know how I was going to make it home, since I was shaking like a leaf in a storm, clearly had a high fever, and felt too weak to move.  

I did eventually stop shaking enough to drive the short distance home and then spent the better part of the afternoon and evening shivering under a pile of blankets in my bed, feeling miserable, and alternating Benadryl and Advil to get the fever under control and counter whatever allergic reaction I was apparently having.

So far, I was not a fan of this chemo thing.

Tuesday (2 August) and Wednesday (3 August): I have no record of how I felt on these days except that I woke up with a slight fever on Tuesday morning. I vaguely remember going into work for part of each day so I guess I must have felt okay.

Which brings us to Thursday (4 August) and my second chemo treatment. I’ve heard of cancer patients who didn’t miss a beat of their regular lives during chemo treatment. They continued to work full-time, socialize, go to the gym, even travel. Frankly, I don’t know how they managed it. Based on these first two weeks alone I guessed that chemo was going to be a rough ride.