Round 1 - The Knockdown

When I stepped into the ring for the first time to fight cancer I was extremely nervous. I wanted to be as confident as a young Mike Tyson when he stepped into the ring or as I envisioned a follower of Christ can be, but I am not going to lie, I was truly nervous. As I looked around the waiting room it became apparent how many people have been impacted by cancer.

There were about 75 to 100 people waiting. One lady was clinging to her husband, who looked like he might be losing the battle. It was obvious she loved him and he was her life. As I continued to look around the room I realized that I was here on one specific day, at a specific time and at one location. When you think of all the days, the times and locations for cancer treatment you realize how massive and awful this disease truly is for countless people.

After waiting I was finally called back to have the IV line placed into my port. As someone whose veins like to hide, I was amazed at how nice it is to have a port. Then I was sent back to the waiting room. Eventually it was time to meet with Dr. Beck. We spoke briefly about expectations and that he wanted to see if my insurance would pay for some genetic testing. Then he walked me into the treatment room. As I looked around, my nervousness increased and my heart broke as I passed people that were in the same battle I was just starting. 

I learned in that moment, cancer doesn't care about your age, race, sex or anything else. It impacts all people, but God is the Father to all People who place their faith in Christ. I refuse to be defeated, I know my God is bigger than the deadliest form of cancer. As I sat down in the chair, the nurse informed me I would be getting two forms of nausea medicine, some steroids and then followed up by two of the three cancer treatments. Not going to lie, I asked if they had some dumbbells I could curl to take advantage of the steroids. Sadly, they didn't have any lol.

After about an hour, the nurse advised me she was starting the first chemo drug and that the cold sensitivity was probably going to kick in as well. I don't think five minutes had passed, when I started getting nauseated and hot. I jumped up unsure what to do, I started taking off my jacket and she came over to see what was wrong. I said, "I thought you said I would feel cold? I am hot and very nauseated." After speaking with the doctor, they felt the best course of action was to knock me out.

A little over two hours later I woke up, groggy and loopy, but they still had to connect my forty-six hour at home treatment. Once they completed that, by the grace of God I managed to drive myself home. I would like to say I am exaggerating about this next statement, but I am not. I literally sat on the couch like a zombie, eating nothing but dry cheerios until Wednesday. Then Wednesday I went back to get disconnected, went back home and returned to my zombie mode. I was out of it, with minimal ability to operate.

​Not knowing what to expect, later that night I went to bed. I woke up very nauseated and ran to the kitchen for my nausea medicine. Right after I took it, I realized it was too late and I started vomiting. As my luck would have it, in the middle of all this my stomach exploded with, well I will spare you the details. Eventually, I took another nausea pill and something for my stomach and was able to sleep.

It took until Saturday, but I started feeling better. By Monday, I couldn't even tell I had been on chemo I felt so good. It was a much better week of work and interaction with friends and family. After I had time to process the impact of Round One I knew I didn't want them knocking me out anymore and I was going to ask if they could slow down the infusion from two hours to two and a half hours to see if that helped.

I was exciting thinking, "Wow the treatment week is awful, but the off week I feel amazing. I might be able to endure this after all." I knew what to expect now or at least I thought I did. Wait until you hear about Round 2.