Shantay you Stay

Well the time has come for me to return to work! 

My treatments, Rituxan, started in May, i had one per week for 4 weeks and then had a month to rest after.

Rituxan is given  at the oncology treatment Center at the Moncton hospital. It is given in the same format as chemotherapy, by IV infusion over a period of several hours. The treatment room is large a clean and bright with 25 hydraulic chairs around the room. There are windows all around the room and a large nurses station sits in the middle to look over the  patients. There are heated blankets, televisions and volunteers come with snacks and lunch. 

My first treatment took 5 to 6 hours. Once my IV was set up I was first given a bag of benedryl through the IV. Since Rituxan can cause an allergic reaction the benedryl was given before every treatment. The side effects of benedryl are drowsiness and general loopiness so I was unable to drive that entire day. Then the Rituxan is hooked up in a brown plastic bag. It is slowly released the first time to minimize side effects. Because I did well the first time the following three treatments were only 2-3h each. 

After the treatments some of the side effects I had were fever, body aches, fatigue, mouth sores and eczema. I slept a lot, and for a while was afraid I would never feel better. I couldn’t do groceries some days, go for walks and simple things like laundry and cleaning became enormous tasks. I spent my time napping with Tucker and watching a lot of Rupaul’s Drag Race. Not many foods were appetizing, and because of this I was pretty much on an all chip diet, I have since recovered from this addiction (almost).

Soon after the forth treatment I started feeling better. The change was gradual, the naps were shorter, then a few days appart until finally I could do my regular life things again without it being exhausting.

I am feeling a lot more like myself, leaving my leggings and baggy sweaters aside I have started wearing real clothes and sometimes even makeup! I still have to take it easy some days and make sure to take the time to rest, but as long as I watch myself I should be fine :) I have started walking with Tucker again, something I wasn’t able to do this spring and which we both missed a lot. 

As far as any type of “remission” it’s hard to say. I have a CT scan next month and a follow up with my oncologist. Follicular Lymphoma is considered “incurable” as it will often come back even after “remission”. I don’t expect to never hear from it again, however I look forward to having many years of not feeling it.

I want to thank everyone who helped me out here and there, even if it was just a kind word of encouragement or dropping off a fantastic apple pie. These little things helped me enormously. 

Pretty soon I can go back to my life where I forgot I even had cancer ☺️