Chemo thoughts
OK, now that finals are over and I'm not being run ragged, I can post!
I wanted to talk about preparing for chemo, because the advice I got on patient forums was pretty useless. Here's what's useful:
Make the same sort of lunch you would take to work if you couldn't use a microwave, but without any fresh produce. A sandwich, applesauce, some cookies, some potato chips. Maybe just a big bag of potato chips. Potato chips are your friend during chemo. The saltier, the better. Anyway, you're going to be there several hours. You'll want something to eat, even if you are too nervous to think about food beforehand. Make that lunch anyway.
Wear house shoes or some other comfy shoes you can ease in and out of. Wear warm socks, pajama bottoms or at least pants as comfy as pajama bottoms, and an oversized t-shirt. If you hate wearing bras, don't wear one. No one will care if you don't have one on, but you will super hate it when you are lying there, half asleep and unable to sleep because of that stupid thing.
Bring a sleep mask and ear plugs or headphones you can sleep with. If you are trying to sleep, not having fluorescent light shining in your eyes will make it easier. As for the ear plugs, the worst thing is when you are next to people whose chemo session is more like a small party, with a constant parade of people coming by. I guess if you also like a constant parade of visitors while you aren't feeling well, you won't notice. But if you are a misanthropic loner like me who'd rather fight be sick without an audience, bring the ear plugs/headphones.
Bring your tablet, phone, or computer. Make sure you have a decent book loaded up just in case there's no internet. Or bring an actual book if you roll old school.
The first time, have someone drive you and pick you up, or use a taxi or uber. After that, you'll know if you are too nauseous following chemo to drive yourself. I felt well enough to drive.
My chemo drugs included a steroid, and that gave me a shot of crazy energy for 12 hours. The next couple of days afterward were the worst, because of the autoinjector. In order to keep your white blood cell count up, they give you a drug which forces your body to make white blood cells. It automatically goes off the day after chemo. A few hours later, and lasting for 24 hours, my legs were in extreme pain. It's a good idea to take your narcotic pain reliever, if you have any, the day after chemo to keep that pain down.
I had very little nausea throughout my chemo experience, but I did have severe intestinal cramping the week after my first treatment. At the first sign of any cramping, take simethecone (Gas-X) as often as you need to.
Also, shave yourself bald if your oncologist says your treatment will make you lose your hair. I let the stylist talk me out of shaving before chemo, and the day my hair started coming out, it was awful. Short hair is not going to be at all helpful. Your entire head will itch worse than anything you could imagine, and you will pull on your hair to yank it out, and then grab scissors or whatever else is available to get rid of your hair because yanking it out isn't fast enough. Getting it cut off beforehand is a favor to yourself.