May 31, 2016: 

Anxious moments

The day has finally arrived.  Day one of Chemotherapy treatment and the day I and all my supporters join the hunt to fight and kill the cancer that has invaded my body.  Jennifer has come along with me this morning.  Thank you babe!  We arrive at the Georgetown Cancer Treatment Facility at 8:30 am.  It means a ton to have her along with me on this first day.  I’m not showing any outward emotions or fears but believe me internally I’m doing everything I can to control my fear.  Knowing I have her, the Lord, and all my friends giving me support helps me face this difficult journey.

Over the next 6 hours I get to hangout in a cushy blue recliner.  Too bad it’s not football season and I’m not in front of my big screen. Instead here I am sitting in a sterile room awaiting to receive a lovely chemotherapy cocktail of Bleomycin, Cisplatin, and etoposide (BEP for short).  That’s not my normal cocktail of choice but it’s the mixture of healing medicine that I need.  Immediately one feels the cold air in the room.  I’m looking around to see if there are any Penguins waddling around.  I hear a voice inside my head telling me to run, leave now!  At this point I’m struggling to maintain my focus.  I force myself to take a number of deep breaths and try to calm myself down.  I’d rather be naked in front of thousands of people giving a presentation than where I am at this moment in time.

“Join the Hunt!” #SPN

I’m now 3 weeks removed from my initial surgery and diagnosis but I still have moments where I don’t think this real.  I keep waiting to wake-up from the nightmare.  The one thing I refuse to let myself do, is to ask why me.  I’m 100% focused on the end game and curing this trojan horse that’s decided to try to take me down.  I’m focused, determined, physically, and mentally ready to win the battle today and the oncoming war.  My motto is: “Eye of the Tiger”! If Rocky can train in the frozen expanse of Siberia to defeat the roided Russian in Rocky IV.  I can take a few rounds of this poison (healing medicine) to defeat the beast within.  Please enjoy this little video below.  It’s Jensen Ackles (I have a slight man crush) who plays Dean Winchester on the CW show Supernatural rocking out to the song.  While we are on the subject of Supernatural (#SPN) my daughter Maddie got me into this show so don’t judge me!  She even let me use her Supernatural blanket today. Meaning Sam and Dean Winchester, as well as Castiel (always good to have an Angel with you even if he only exist on the TV show) have joined the hunt! Too bad you can’t kill cancer with a little rock salt and fire.  I posted a picture to my twitter account @jimwehmeyer if you want to check it out.

The rest of today’s writing will be presented in play by-play style.  I want you the reader to know what to expect on your first day of testicular cancer treatment.  Not knowing has attributed the most to my anxiety up to this point.

• 9:00 am and my IV is in place.  They say I can keep it in overnight or just have them redo it again the next day.  I’m leaning towards leaving it in my arm as opposed to getting stuck again.  I get to come 5 days in row during each Chemo cycle so less pokes in my arm the better. No need to look like a complete junky.  I won’t receive my actual chemo medicine until later this morning.  Right now they are infusing 2 separate nausea medicines as well as a steroid to help the effectiveness.  Too bad it’s not the type of steroid that will get me all ripped up.

My nurse Lindsey just drop by to check on me and let me know I get to receive a shot in my stomach.  “What!!  I did not expect for a shot in my stomach!  I normally take shots like a champ but I’m not a fan of them in my stomach.” Apparently they have to give me a test shot of the Bleomycin to make sure I don’t have any bad reactions before it goes in my IV drip.  The nurse try to help me relax a bit by showing me the needle.  It’s about the size of a tiny pin.  It would feel like a minor bee sting.  “Holy smokes!!  That is some bee sting!”  The needle didn’t hurt but the area around it immediately began to burn.  Had I just been dropped into the depth of Hades?  That sucked.  Lucky for me I didn’t have any real reaction to the Bleomycin so now it’s time embark on this cancer hunt.

• 10:25 am and Chemotherapy is officially under way.  May the force be with you chemo drugs!  I have a little trepidation that the Bleomycin might damage my lungs.  Former Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong (yes I know he was blood doping but hell he survived stage III testicular cancer -he’s still an inspiration – wonder if he has some left over supplements? HA) didn’t receive the Bleomycin because of that risk, instead he did extra rounds of the other drugs.

After this bag completes they have to give me a large bag of electrolytes prior to the Cisplatin.  Apparently, Cisplatin can be hard on the kidneys so you must have a ton of fluid in between the medicines.  Lucky for me Jennifer bought me an awesome 34oz double insulated water cup to make sure I get my 64oz of H2O a day.

• 12:00 noon and time to start the 2nd part of this little chemo cocktail.  Up to this point I hadn’t felt much anything from the fluids.  Only a slight coolness with each of the different infusions.  This time is different.  I feel the Cisplatin almost immediately as the liquid drips into my vein.  Every part of my body begins to warm and beads of perspiration glisten on my bald head. Thankfully after about 15 minutes this subsides and I return to my new normal state.  The cisplatin drip takes about an hour and half to complete.  Time for another round of electrolytes before I get started on the 3rd and final ingredient in my wonderful healing cocktail.

• 2:50 pm and another nurse exchanges my electrolytes for the eptoposide drip.  My final infusion for the day.  The eptoposide takes about an hour to be infused into my system.  I didn’t feel any reactions to this one so I’m in the home stretch for today.

Finally it’s time to pack up all our stuff and get ready to go home.  It’s now almost 4:00 pm so we’ve been here about 7.5 hours.  It’s been a long and stressful first round.  Mostly brought on by my own thoughts and fears as I had researched everything.  I must say I really like possibly love the nurse who leads up my case.  Jennifer had left the room to run out and grab us a sandwich so I was alone for the first time.  Lindsey dropped by and put her hands on my knee in the most comforting way.  She told me to remain positive, the road ahead is tough and you’ll have difficult moments, just remember you will be cured.  Many others in here may not get so lucky.

Day one of my journey is complete.  Time to focus (“Eye of the Tiger”) on the next day.  One day at time to Conquer! #TeamJimmie #Cancerfight #ShowYourGrit