This is Jen's friend Katie telling Chemo #1 from my perspective! Jennifer and Pat were met at the Cancer Center by her friend Amy, Heather and me. She was quickly ushered upstairs and had her labs drawn to make sure all her "levels" were where they needed to be before proceeding with her first treatment. She said that it didn't hurt at all when they assessed her port, even though they had told her that it wouldn't! She was pretty excited about that! It took about an hour to get labs back, and they all looked good. In the meantime, Jennifer talked with the nurse practitioner and signed her consent forms and asked any questions she could think of. Chemo started at about 11, and Jennifer took it like a champ! About half way through (maybe more), she started having an odd sensation about her nose. She compared it to the feeling you have when you laugh really hard, and water or pop come out your nose. It eventually got so bad that she kind of freaked out. We got the nurse over. Apparently this is a very common side effect to one of the drugs. They stopped that drug for about 30 minutes while the strange effects wore off. They started it again at half the rate, and about two minutes later, she was done! PIECE.OF.CAKE! Then, after a "short" trip to the pharmacy down the hall, we were on our way! I (Katie) took Jennifer to Beresford so that she could reassure her co-workers and friends that she had made it through! We also stopped to get some special mouthwash and toothpaste.
Jennifer is now at home, and hopefully she has been able to get some rest.
I have known Jennifer for 15 years, and her attitude regarding this bump in the road has been incredible. I feel so fortunate to be her friend, and I know that she is going to beat this stupid cancer!
Please continue to follow Jennifer's Jacked Up Journey on this blog! Who knows, maybe she will let me do a guest stint sometime in the future!
Amy, Jennifer, Heather, and Katie (The Fab Four!)
Our Hero! Jennifer!
Katie Hilfiker
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