Rituxan Treatment #1

It came as no surprise to me that I was up bright and early yesterday morning in preparation for my first chemo treatment.  There was no way that I was sleeping since I was a nervous wreck.  Not knowing how I would feel or my body would react to the treatment was nerve wracking.  It was evident that I was a bit worked up when they first took my blood pressure which was 151/105.  

Everyone at the infusion center was very nice.  They put me in a private room which was a bonus since I ended up sleeping most of the day away and I never would have been able to do that in the main infusion room with all the other patients, their noises and the TVs going.  I warned the nurses about my veins but I don't think they took me too seriously until they actually tried to tap a vein.  Apparently the center has a rule that each nurse only gets two shots at getting a vein and then another nurse needs to try.  Thankfully I only went through two nurses....on the fourth poke they struck gold (or blood as it were).

 All set and ready to go!  They started me on a 20 minute drip of Solumedrol and then we moved on to a 20 minute drip of Benadryl in addition to taking Tylenol orally.  Once all the pre-medication was completed, they started the Rituxan drip.  The way they do the drip is that they set the IV to stop every 30 minutes so they can take vitals and increase the drip.  The pharmacist explained that a person's body would revolt if they tried to infuse the Rituxan at the rate of a normal IV right off the bat.  They have to slowly increase the drip to allow the body to adjust to the medication.  

I experienced my worst side effects within the first 30 minutes.  I tingled all over and felt really nauseous.  Once my body adjusted, I only had chills, a slight temp and a sore throat.  They stopped the IV for 15 minutes when I complained of the sore throat.  Apparently they don't mess around with any side effects!  It went away and didn't come back until the very end of the IV. At the end, I had a slight headache and the sore throat along with some serious exhaustion.  From start to finish, the Rituxan took 5 hours.  Once the IV was done, I had to wait another hour for observation.  I was finally able to leave at 4:30.

It was a long day...arriving at 8:45 and leaving at 4:30.  I am so very glad that my rheumy chose the two week infusion instead of the four weekly infusions.  I go back on March 4th for my final treatment and then I have 6 months before my next one.  

After arriving home yesterday evening, I was mainly experiencing exhaustion with a sore throat, nausea that came & went and a slight headache.  I went to bed toting my trusty puke bucket but thankfully, did not have to use it. I don't have much of an appetite at the moment but that won't hurt me much.  Other than the lack of appetite, I am still bone weary with a sore throat.  I know that most side effects show up within 24 to 48 hours of the infusion but if this is the worst of it, I am so blessed!