\\PCHIU//

#1 Chemo / 第一次化療 (中文翻譯在下面)

7/25/2013 is my first chemo treatment. My parent flew in last night from Taiwan to be with me. And my co-workers and friends also came to the hospital to support me. 

First the nurse gave me some pre-meds before the chemo drugs. Pre-Med is to lower any possible side effects that I may have for chemo therapy.Then, it's time for the chemo meds: Taxotere, Pertuzumab, and Herceptin. 
More info for these drugs can be found - Echo Test & Chemo Class / 心臟超音波檢查跟化療課程

Because this is my first time receiving the chemo therapy, the dosage has to be given out slowly and a break time between each medicine.
It took about 6 hours to complete my first chemotherapy (9AM to 3PM). 

I felt fine the first 2 days after the chemo and started to feel tired and sick on the 3rd day. Low white blood cell count (low immune system) is the most common side effect for chemotherapy. Side effects that I experienced include diarrhea, canker sores in my mouth, blister on my fingers and loss of appetite. 

A week after my first chemo I had a follow up visit with Dr. Sharma. My blood test showed my WBC (white blood cell) was too low and Dr. Sharma gave me a WBC booster, Neulasta, to increase my WBC. In about another week, my side effects slowly went away and I was able to go back to work.

My parents came a day before my 1st chemo (我爹娘在第一次化療前一天抵達美國)

My company partner, Susan, came to visit me. (公司老闆來醫院看我)

 My tax dept co-workers came to visit. (公司同事來探望我)

  Pre-meds (化療前先打的藥已減緩化療的副作用)

  Chemo Meds (一個化療藥,另外兩個是標靶藥)

  Beautiful flowers

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7/25/2013 - 今天是我第一次的化療，昨晚我爹娘抵達ＬＡ來陪伴我！公司的老闆跟同事還有一些朋友也都有來醫院探望我！粉感動內！！

在正式打化療藥之前，護士阿姨先給我一些減緩化療副作用的藥，像是過敏藥，制胃劑等等來降低化學藥物對身體的副作用。我的三種用藥是歐洲紫杉醇，賀癌平，還有Pertuzumab(台灣還未正式批准此藥)。相關藥物請參考之前ＰＯ的文章－ Echo Test & Chemo Class / 心臟超音波檢查跟化療課程

因為這是我第一次打化療，所以藥劑的滴量跟速度都要比較慢，在滴完每一種藥劑之後也需要休息一下來觀察身體的反應。第一次化療總共花了六個小時(早上九點到下午三點)。

化療完的當天跟隔一天我都沒有太大的身體反應，不過到了第三天跟第四天副作用就開始出現了。白血球降低（免疫系統降低）是最普遍的化療副作用。我也因為白血球降低的關係所以出現疲倦，肚瀉，嘴破，手指間長泡疹，胃口不好，食不知味等副作用。在化療完後的一個星期回到醫院去做血液檢查，我的白血球也因為太低(註一)所以被要求打針來增加白血球生長。在打完之後我的以上症狀就開始減緩，也很快就回到公司上班了！

註一: 正常人的白血球指數是4.0以上(台灣說法是4000)。