Round 1 of Chemo (plus hiccups)

I got my first round of chemo yesterday, and it went really well.  The whole process took about 3 hours, but it will be a lot shorter in the future, since for the first hour they had to inject me in my arm with one of the chemo drugs and wait an hour to see if I had an allergic reaction (I didn’t).  After that, there were no problems at all.  I was worried that it would hurt a lot when they stuck the IV needle into my port, since the area was still sore from having it put in on Monday, but it was no worse than having an IV needle stuck in my arm.  I didn’t feel it at all after that, even when they were sending the chemicals through it.

So far, there have been no side effects, other than a tiny bit of light-headedness from time to time.  I know that the side effects often don’t really start in earnest till the third or fourth day, so I’m assuming some are still coming, but it’s relieving that I’m not incapacitated by the chemo.  Also, my back barely hurts at all today, which hasn’t happened without painkillers for several weeks.  So maybe the drugs are already starting to work!

The one annoying thing is that the hiccups I woke up with after surgery keep coming back.  I’ve read a few places online that after anesthesia they can last anywhere from 3 days to a week.  The best method I know of for getting rid of them – exhaling, then drinking a whole glass of water from the opposite side of the glass – seems to work sometimes, but they always seem to come back eventually.  Oh well, I shouldn’t complain – I think there are people who would love to have recurring hiccups as the only problem the day after chemo.  And if the internet’s right, I should be fine in a day or two.