#ive got heartburn

[panicbroadcast]

brb sneaking to the kitchen to get a cornetto at half past midnight

[oschonseleven]

maybe eating a very late dinner of tteokbokki at 10pm is not one of my brightest ideas

but it is a delicious one

[vanillabat99]

My pharmacy is having issues contacting my doctor's office about prescription refills, so now me and my mom have to go to my doctor's office and sort that out ._. I have been out of my reflux meds for a couple days now and it is very uncomfortable.

[saltingsmells]

does the emergency room have black friday sales because that would be awesome for me specifically

[chapricot]

had a gay weekend peace and love on planet earth

[aria0fgold]

Okay one veeery small hater moment from me but it isn't really much of a hater moment but more of a disappointment irritation moment for a manwha genre that I've been chillin deep into it's rabbit hole, aka Otome Isekai (shortened to oi) is when I found this manwha that I already forgot the title of out of pure irritation that I somehow just blacked it out. The premise was basically like: I got trapped in a dating sim I played in my past life for 3 years when my first playthrough turned out a fail and I got sent back to the past to retry until I get a good ending for the character I possessed that's a side character of the game. And I'm so tired of failing, I don't need love to get my happy ending!

Like-- from the description alone it was pretty generic. And I, being the veteran that I am with generic oi manwha, already Knew what I'm about to get once I go in there, but I was like: "Maaaybe it'll turn out okay, I should check the comments." And there was a TON of comments with 4-5 star ratings, all of em praising the writing and everything and sayin that "it's far better than what the description says," so I was like: Oh okay that's good then! Time to check!

So I read through chapter 1, what the fuck is going on. The description made the story seem more interesting ngl, like I thought the fl has been going at it for 3 years with how it was worded, like she's just been met with several failures cuz of how the actual description made it seem how tired she's been but no. The story starts with her SECOND PLAYTHROUGH. So I'm like: "??? Maybe this is just the prologue" so I kept going until chapter 2.

What The Fuck Is Going On. The description also made it seem that she won't be going after any of the guys btw but by the end of chapter 1 and the start of chapter 2, she's already thinking of going after ANOTHER guy to achieve her happy ending and I'm like: "HUUUH???" cuz apparently the first guy she wanted to get together with in her first playthrough was your average "irredeemable trash" in an oi so like OKAY??? WHY WAS THE DESCRIPTION WORDED LIKE THAT.

And I remember keeping going until like-- chapter 3? chapter 4? or whatever, cuz the comments kept saying that "oh this story is soo good it's such a breath of fresh air from the other ois" And I got so blindsided by that one scene in a chapter titled "Ten Days" (hey aria how come you can remember that but not the manwha title or chapter number? cuz wait for it--) THE FL HAS BEEN UNCONSCIOUS FOR TEN DAYS!!! AND SHE JUST WALKED OUTTA BED LIKE NOTHIN!!! TEN DAYS!?!!? orz... that chapter bewildered me so much it's like it wiped the entire memory I've had of that manwha from before I read through it cuz wHAT THE FUCK???

Her family (which was the typical "neglectful family but is redeemable after getting a wake up call when the fl started ignoring em so now they're trying to make amends") was sittin by her bedside along with the typical "maid that's always on the fl's side no matter what and she's bubbly" and they were all distraught, the maid crying and everything and when the fl just stood outta bed with no consequences to the fact that she's just been laying there FOR TEN! DAYS! and everyone not even batting an eye at the fact that she's already up and at em when she's been unconscious FOR TEN DAYS!-- I'm never letting that go-- I was like: Holy stars this story is... people are blind-- And clicked outta that thing so fast it just got yeeted from my memory until I remember bout the ten days again.

[stayliquid]

i was here to be productive but my stomach is mad at me

[warriorfujoshi]

uni fucked me over w disability shit again

[saintslaughter]

so much for nap time

[skrunksthatwunk]

oh my god this is what heartburn has been feeling like for y'all????? oeughh im too weak for this 😟😟😟

[bonchobrick]

GUYS THIS IS SO FUCKING CUTE I CAME FROM AO3 READ THIS NOW AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

“Can I kiss you?”

Ao3

---

“—so sorry! I swear I didn’t mean to kill him! It was an accident! He just jumped me out of nowhere and I have had bad experiences with clowns in the past so when I saw it was a clown trying to kidnap me I kinda just panicked and punched him! I swear, dude, I didn’t mean to hit him so hard—“

Jason, much too calmly, likely in some form of shock, rises from the crouched-down position he had been in to check the clown corpse’s pulse.

He had seen the poor, still rambling, twink getting grabbed from a distance and was about to step in as Red Hood, not even having been aware it was the Joker who —shouldn’t he have been in Arkham? There has been no announcement of him breaking out yet— had grabbed the guy until he had run close enough to the scene.

Which was after the guy had already been startled so badly by the Joker trying to kidnap him that he sucker punched the Joker into the wall of the alley so hard the clown died.

Said twink then realized what he had done and that he had a witness, that witness being Red Hood himself, and had started his frenzied speech on how it was an accident and to please don’t take him to jail he’s only just started his scholarship at Gotham U. and he can’t have murder on his track record yet.

Breathless, Jason looks at the nervous twink in front of him, who's still trying to plead his case, and who just obliterated the Joker with a punch.

Before his brain can catch up to his mouth, he’s already cutting the distressed monologuing off.

“Can I kiss you?” He blurts out.

Danny, taken off guard, breaks out of his panicked—oh, Ancients, I just killed someone— stupor and lets out a startled laugh.

“Take me out to dinner first” came the automatic joking reply, Danny still largely in shock of what he did.

Jason, either not picking up on the joking tone or ignoring it, nods seriously, already trying to come up with the best place for a dinner date with the cute twink to thank him for his service to the city.

Danny, who has calmed down slightly by now, glances between the red-helmed vigilante and the clown corpse. His gaze lands on Red Hood and he hesitantly speaks up again.

“So, uh, what happens now? Do I need to go to the station to make a statement orrrr?” He pauses awkwardly.

Jason, who’s still trying to figure out whether the Bat Burger would be a good place for a first date or not, doesn’t reply.

“I’ve got school in the morning and I only have like,” he pauses to check his phone for the time, “3 more hours before I have to be up for my first lesson. Soooo, I’m just gonna go. That cool?”

Again, he waits for a reply. But it doesn’t come.

“Right. Cool cool. Uh, see you later? Mr. Red Hood dude sir?” Danny gives a clumsy and awkward salute before turning tail and speed-walking away.

It’s not until 30 minutes later, once Jason has finally decided on the perfect place to take the guy to dinner to, that he realizes the twink is gone.

Fuck, he forgot to ask for the guy’s name.

…

And number.

[syndrossi]

Just wanted to let folks know that I'm back home after being discharged from the hospital on Monday and resting up so that my lungs can heal.

For those curious to hear the incredibly lengthy narrative, see below.

It likely started before Saturday, but that's when everything went to shit. The day began pretty normally, honestly, though I'd felt a little discomfort in my upper right lung (near the shoulder blade) when breathing the previous night. I wanted to catch up with my BFF who lives in another state, so we scheduled a gaming session to hangout over discord and play Civ together. We played from 11am-4:30pm(ish). Most of the session I felt fine, but towards the last hour, I got hit with what felt like heartburn and a really bad headache. We ended a bit early, and I went to the store to pick up some tums.

By the time I got home, the heartburn was gone, so I drank a bunch of electrolytes for the headache. I noticed what felt like a sore muscle in my lower right ribs, more towards the back. Since I'd been using my boot more at home, which left me with a slightly hobbled gait since it was higher than my normal shoe, I figured it was just muscle strain from the uneven walking. I took a shower, hoping it would help with the muscle ache / tightness in my chest.

I felt briefly better in the shower, but once I got out, I felt crappy again. I tried lying down, but I couldn't get comfortable. Taking a deep breath made that upper-right-lung pain intensify my "muscle strain" in the rib area spasm. I got back up, dried my hair, and tried some light stretching to see if that would help (it didn't).

Since I felt so awful, I figured I'd try going to bed early (10:30 pm). I changed into my PJs, and where before it had been uncomfortable lying down, now it was outright painful. Every breath, even shallow ones, caused my rib muscle area to spasm, triggering a jolt of pain. I shifted, trying to find a comfortable position, but all of them hurt (the pain made me cry out each time, much to my doggo's concern).

Finally, close to 11, I gave my parents a call. I still thought it was a muscle issue, so I was mostly workshopping ideas of how I might get some sleep so I could go to urgent care in the morning to get checked out. My mom insisted I go to the emergency room, though, worried about the prospect of a pulmonary embolism. That felt super unlikely to me (I hadn't felt any pain in my legs or arms that would have been a blood clot), but I knew I wasn't going to sleep and wanted peace of mind, so I swallowed my reservations about the likely cost of an ER visit (yay 'murica 🫠) and my dad drove me there.

It was about an hour wait after check-in (my heart rate and blood pressure at check-in were definitely elevated--my heart was about 20 bpm over my usual resting rate--but higher is less concerning than lower), and I was uncomfortable even sitting. Only the shallowest of breaths were okay, which meant that getting upset (crying, etc) was not an option. I don't know why, but I decided that Viserys was my no-crying distraction for some reason. Whenever I felt myself getting upset / near tears, I would stare at this raised dais-like area of the waiting room and pretend it was Viserys's throne and that I was annoyed at him. It was pretty effective, honestly.

Once they finally called me back, I went through the process of changing into the ER gown. They poked an IV in me and then drew some blood for tests, as apparently there's a blood test than can tell when you likely have a pulmonary embolism (PE). The ER room became waiting room #2. Over the next 1-1.5 hours, I waited in increasing pain and discomfort for the results. The ER bed that I was supposed to be on had been inclined into mostly a sitting position, but the pressure was still painful. I could only breathe so carefully and shallowly without triggering a muscle spasm, which would then trigger an incredibly painful breath.

My dad stayed with me, distracting himself by asking ChatGPT about my symptoms. I just stared at the room's curtain for most of the two hour wait. Once again, Viserys was my distraction. The faux-dais was gone, so this time I used the tiles on the ceiling. I pretended it was a game of Memory and mentally "flipped" over a tile to reveal Viserys whenever I felt myself nearing tears.

At this point, I was still 100% convinced it was a muscle spasm, even though the muscle relaxant they'd given me over the IV hadn't done anything to help. The ER doctor finally came by with the results and noted that my blood test showed that I likely had a PE. The next step would be having a CT scan (they scan your chest as a baseline, then inject you with iodine and scan you again to look for blockages).

I was still in denial, but agreed that it was better to be safe and do the test. The tech who does the scan came in, and that's when I figured out that I'd have to be lying down. Remembering the pain of it earlier, and how much it hurt even to sit now, I finally broke down. Just heaving sobs, and each one of then was agonizing--which meant that I kept sobbing harder. Every breath, I was basically strangling a scream, until I couldn't strangle it anymore. The nurses hurriedly started a line of morphine, and upped it until I calmed/eventually settled. I tried to explain that it wasn't anxiety that had triggered it, it was just that I had to remain calm/collected at all times or else I'd risk the chain reaction of sob-PAIN-more sobbing-more pain, and my limit had been reached.

Once my pain had subsided a little, they took me to the CT scan. The tech was incredibly nice, helping me ease down as slowly as possible and bringing a pillow for my feet to take some pressure off. It hurt a lot, but was just doable with the morphine. The CT scan finished, and I was wheeled back to my ER room.

Another 45 minute wait ensued (I think it was nearing 3-4am at this point) before the results were finally done. The doctor came in and explained that I had multiple blood clots (PE) in both lungs, though they were not immediately life-threatening, and would need to be admitted and go on blood thinners.

There's a side story that I don't feel comfortable sharing the details of but the TL;DR is that I was on some other medications in preparation for another procedure and had to keep calling the other doctor's off-hours line to figure out what to do. Ultimately, I had to cancel/stop that treatment/prep, which was gutting, honestly.

I was given an injection of the blood thinner into my stomach (the nurse was not gentle), and offered a top-up of morphine before heading over to the hospital / my hospital room. My dad talked me out of it, saying that it would be easier to have it done in my room, and left to fetch some things for me so I could have a more comfortable stay (and to care for my dog, as I live alone).

Unfortunately, once I made it to the hospital room, they claimed that I was only cleared to have Tylenol for pain (which does nothing for me). I took it, because I had nothing else, and a long 6-10 hours ensued. I was in too much pain and discomfort to sleep, and the hospital was noisy. My nurse popped in briefly at the start to tell me she'd "tuck me in" once she finished with her current patient. An hour passed, to the point where I wondered if I was supposed to call her myself, and she finally came in--mostly just to hand me some Tylenol to swallow and make sure I was hooked up properly to the machine.

5am-1pm were miserable. I couldn't sleep, I was in pain, I could barely breathe without triggering extreme pain. And the side effect of having to "remain calm" was that I had to speak in a low, measured voice whenever asked about how I was feeling. I couldn't honestly talk about the pain without breaking down so I would take long pauses. I probably understated my pain too much for that reason (because admitting how much it hurt made me want to sob). It took my parents visiting in the afternoon and my mom raising a stink (I say lovingly) to finally get something that would actually help with the pain. At this point, I had clarified with my other doctor that the other procedure was off and therefore I could have NSAIDs / whatever they wanted to do to me.

I got an NSAID + an opioid, and finally, for the first time in over twenty-four hours, I could speak more than a few words at a time, and exist in something other than pain and discomfort. My sister visited, and managed to finally tempt my appetite (I had been refusing all food) in the evening with some french onion soup she'd brought from Panera. She was such a morale boost; she visited me twice, my brother-in-law joining her for the second time with the soup when I was finally in manageable-pain, and they kept me sane.

My parents brought the most important supply of the night: my noise-canceling headphones. After not sleeping for the past 36 hours, I finally had the tools to do so.

Unfortunately, the hospital had other plans. My nurse would check in every 6 hours to re-up my meds (and at a different point to give me that day's blood thinner injection). On a different cadence, someone would come every 4 hours to check my blood pressure. And there were two other ad-hoc interruptions for more blood draws. And the changing of the nurse shift. Every time I finally managed to fall asleep, I would be woken within an hour by someone. My blood pressure grew too low overnight, so they stopped the opioids.

Still, it was enough "rest" to survive the day. They did lots of tests on me--an echocardiogram to make sure there was no heart damage, ultrasounds on my legs to make sure there were no other lurking blood clots, general blood tests. I passed them one by one. My heart was fine. There were no signs of clots in the ultrasound. My blood tests were otherwise good (minus some low hemoglobin/red blood cells due to having my blood constantly drawn).

Finally, around 2pm on Monday, I was given my discharge papers and allowed to go home.

With pulmonary embolisms, especially the "mild" form that I had, the treatment is basically just blood thinners. The idea is to prevent additional clots and give the lungs time to heal the existing clots/damage on their own (apparently they're very good at this and heal minor/tiny blood clots all the time). If I only ever have this one incident, I just have to make it through a six-month period of blood thinners. If I ever have a clot again, I'll have to be on blood thinner medication for life.

The doctors couldn't tell me definitively why I ended up with PEs in both lungs. I have no family history of clots/PE. The ultrasound didn't show any remnants or new clots. I had been in a boot for my busted ankle, and much more inactive, which could have contributed. I also had started birth control a month before, which is another risk factor (specifically estrogen). My ER doctor said that she sees a lot of PE patients who recently started hormones--from people treating menopause or going on birth control, to pregnant people, to people using testosterone. Specifically, it's at the "start", typically, when you've gone from your previous baseline and have the influx of hormones.

Or it could have just been a "silent" clot in my legs from the boot.

I'm slowly improving day by day. I can breathe more deeply without pain. I can lie down...mostly flat (I have 3-4 pillows to prop me up) to sleep. Advil does the trick for most of the pain management, though I have to take a prilosec equivalent while on NSAIDs because of the blood thinner. I could barely walk more than a few steps on Monday without getting winded, but I'm able to walk around the house reasonably well now. Bending down (compressing the lungs) hurts, and I'm constantly coughing due to the inflammation in my lungs, but those are all things that will improve over time.

Although I didn't have the same "something is wrong, I need to go to a hospital" certainty that I did when I had appendicitis several years back, I'm glad my instincts were still enough on point to agree with my mom that it was the right course of action.

So yeah, talk about a week from hell.

I didn't mention it, but I was also laid off on Wednesday last week 🫠. Which means over the course of a single week, I was given a boot, given the boot, and then had my body try to kill me. I'll be fine, job-wise, it'll just take me some time to heal before I can start looking again.

Anyway, though I'd share the saga for anyone who is interested and as educational material for what a PE might present as. Boiling the warning symptoms down, it was basically (for me), pain in the right lung when taking a deep breath. Although my left lung also had clots, it didn't hurt, or not enough to register. My heart rate had been elevated for a week, but especially on the day-of: roughly 20-30 bpm above my normal baseline. It's hard to say if that was stress from the pain or related to the clot itself, however.

Finally, I'd like to thank Viserys for being an incredibly effective distraction to keep me from breaking down. Not his usual role in Resonant! (More often he's causing breakdowns...)

[cannabiscomrade]

It's Gastroparesis Awareness Month

Hi! I have gastroparesis and I'm an insufferable know-it-all so let's talk about it!

Gastroparesis, or a paralyzed stomach, is a condition that causes delayed gastric emptying.

This can cause a range of symptoms and complications:

nausea

vomiting

early satiety/fullness

upper gastric pain

heartburn

malabsorption

dehydration

malnutrition

Gastroparesis can be treated by a gastroenterologist, but often needs to be managed by a motility specialist due to a lot of misconceptions about the condition. Providers, especially in the emergency department, will commonly misdiagnose gastroparesis as cannabis-hyperemesis syndome, cyclic vomiting syndrome, gastritis, food poisoning, etc.

There are several commonly known causes of gastroparesis like vagus nerve damage from diabetes, injury to the stomach, and stomach surgery like hernia repair or bariatric surgery. There are also idiopathic cases with no known cause. Other causes of gastroparesis are:

Connective tissue disorders like HSD and EDS (commonly hEDS and cEDS)

Post-viral (like COVID, viral gastritis, mononucleosis/Epstein-Barr)

Restrictive eating disorders

Autoimmune diseases like Systemic sclerosis (scleroderma), Lupus, Hashimoto's

Central nervous system disorders

Gastroparesis also has common comorbidities with conditions like:

POTS and other forms of dysautonomia (POTS, EDS, and gastroparesis are a common triad of diagnoses)

MCAS

SMAS (which can also present with similar symptoms to GP)

Intestinal dysmotility and esophageal dysmotility disorders (known as global dysmotility)

PCOS with insulin resistance

Endometriosis

SIBO/SIFO

Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction

Migraines

Certain medications like Ozempic and other drugs in that class act on the digestive system to delay gastric emptying, which has caused people to be diagnosed with gastroparesis. Some people report that their cases have not gone away since stopping the medication, others report feeling better after stopping. Other drugs like opiates and narcotics can cause delayed gastric and intestinal motility as well, but these are commonly known side effects of those painkiller classes.

Gastroparesis is classed based on severity and graded based on how you respond to treatment.

Severity of delay ranges from mild to very severe, and this is based on your actual stomach retention calculated at 4 hours into a gastric emptying study.

The grading scale ranges from one to three, one being mild and three being gastric failure.

There is no consistent single treatment that is proven to work for gastroparesis, and there is no cure. Treatments can consist of:

Diet changes (3 Step Gastroparesis Diet, liquid diet, oral sole source nutrition)

Prokinetic (motility stimulating) drugs

Anti-nausea medications

Proton-pump inhibitors

Gastric stimulator/gastric pacemaker

Pyloric botox and dilation

G-POEM/pyloroplasty

Post-pyloric tube feeding

Gastric venting/draining

Parenteral nutrition

IV fluids

Other surgical interventions like gastrectomy or rarely, transplant

Gastroparesis is a terrible disease and I hope that if any of these symptoms resonate with you that you can get checked out. I was misdiagnosed for a long time before getting a proper gastroparesis diagnosis, and all it took was a gastric emptying study. This is ESPECIALLY true if you're having post-COVID gastrointestinal problems that are not improving. I almost died from starvation ketoacidosis because of how serious my GP got in a short period of time post-COVID (I had GP before COVID), and now I'm tube reliant for all my nutrition and hydration.

Stay safe friends!

[bimbo-on-board]

good morning i had that spiked freckled lemonade last night and got suuuch bad heartburn holy crap -_- like ive never had heartburn before so i thought i was Dying but once i put two and two together (EAT FOOD BEFORE YOU DRINK PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!) i realized it was heartburn but it still felt like i was dying so we rushed home and i didnt get to finish my tito chill </3

[amethystdreamer114]

Spoiler Alert 🚨

If you’re on OUAT season 5 you’re safe. If not, I mean I’d still read it but you’re gonna get spoilers🤣 (it’s worth it though 🤫) Also please forgive me if the storyline isn’t exactly how it was in the show… this is sorta just off the top of my head so there could be some things I’ve forgotten🤣

Okay so I just have this thing- you know that scene in OUAT where Gold has a heart attack and then ends up in the hospital with (spoiler alert ‼️) Zelena? And you know how she sent him into a second heart attack and he ended up intubated?

Alright well here’s my thing.

The series went through that WAYYYYY too fast for my taste so let’s engage in a little “Rumple-Whumple” shall we?

First let’s think about the parts we *didn’t* see during that episode (Heart of Gold 4/17).

Rumple is in New York after being forced out of Storybrooke by Belle. When we catch up with him, he’s opening the door to his son’s old apartment and he happens to find Robin and his “family” there. With how quickly he has the heart attack and how little it takes to push him to it, we can only assume that he’s been having “build up” symptoms all day.

So what would that look like?

My idea is that he might’ve been up at 3 a.m. the night before with what he deemed “heartburn,” not recognizing the whole bit about his dark deeds poisoning his heart (or in this world, heart attack symptoms.)

Maybe because of that chest tightness and pressure, he didn’t get much sleep and that took away the time he desperately needed to rest.

So by the time the morning comes, he’s still having pains on and off and he feels exhausted. Perhaps he skips out on breakfast because he just doesn’t feel up to even making something simple.

He goes on about his day, walking the streets of New York… loud traffic, too many people, and of course his leg hurting from being without magic to stop it.

Of course he’s got Belle’s voice in his mind- he replays the moment she sent him away over and over and over until he realizes his chest is really starting to hurt.

He makes his way to Bae’s apartment, hoping he can just rest there for a bit before getting back to finding his way back to Storybrooke.

That’s when he finds Robin and the others.

The longer he stands there arguing with Robin, the more he feels lightheaded, the more the room spins, the more his anxiety spikes and the pain in his chest runs rampant…

Then, he blacks out.

Moving on to the hospital…

When Rumple wakes up, his head hurts from the fall, and his body is sore all over from the heart attack.

Now, he feels even more exhausted and pained, but *vulnerable.*

No one who he can trust is here. He’s lying in a cold hospital room in an uncomfortable bed with stiff blankets and an IV in his arm. He misses Belle now more than ever because he knows if she were there, she’d be by his side, tending to him and making sure he felt cared for and loved.

Alas, he’s here with the Honorable Thief himself, and so he acts big and bad when asking for the magic he needs to get back home.

While he waits for Robin to get back, he’s alone with his thoughts. He imagines being back home with Belle. He can practically smell her homemade bread he loves so much. He can feel the soft, slightly worn blankets around him. He hears her sweet voice saying she’ll be there in just a minute.

When Robin finally returns, he drinks the potion, thinking he’ll be healed immediately. This is where it gets interesting….

He realizes nothings changed. He’s still in pain, he’s still tired, he still feels like he’s made of lead and moving is impossible.

Soon enough he’s discovered that Zelena is right in front of him.

He knows she wants to kill him, or worse, use him for something. The more she talks, the more pressure he feels settling in his chest. His heart rate skyrockets and he feels like he can’t breathe… then, those words…

“You failed…oops.”

He can’t take it. The pain, the anxiety, the everything… his heart gives in a second time, leaving the monitor going wild as his vision fades.

He wakes up stiff, cold and pained once again. He feels the softness of a cool towel on his head and leans into it slightly before realizing it’s not Belle who is tending to him.

Despite how sore he is, he does everything in his power to scoot away from Zelena, but being intubated and weak makes it much harder.

He doesn’t like the feeling of being intubated at all, but there’s nothing he can do. He’s at the mercy of the medical staff and Zelena.

His throat feels sore and scratchy, and he wants nothing more than to be curled up in Belle’s arms, drinking a warm cup of tea.

Sadly, that doesn’t happen. He gets another threat from Zelena- putting him in the position of choosing good or choosing to live without constant pain…

He couldn’t help it. He blinked.

[alivingmel]

GOT MY LAST CHEMO INFUSION ON WEDNESDAY BABEEE, feelin' like garbage but finally can recover without another scheduled dose of suffering on the horizon.

MORE ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE AND ""FUN"" FACTS ABOUT CHEMOTHERAPY (under the cut):

-There are over a hundred chemo drugs used to fight cancer! Alkylating agents, antimetabolites, anti-tumor antibiotics, topoisomerase inhibitors, the list goes on. . . Some are administered intravenously, some are taken orally, some are injected with a needle, and some even come in wafer form (surgically placed near a tumor)!

-My treatment regimen involved five different chemo drugs. . . 12 weeks of paclitaxel and carboplatin (every week), 8 weeks of doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (every other week), and Keytruda (every 4 weeks, I think? lost track lmao) throughout.

-DOXORUBICIN (also known as Adriamycin) is one of the most infamous chemo drugs. Its nasty list of side effects and bright red color has earned it the nickname "The Red Devil". You have to get an echocardiogram before recieving doxorubicin because it can cause serious heart problems. For this reason, there's a maximum cumulative dose. You also piss bright red after it's administered!!!

-PACLITAXEL (also known as Taxol) comes from an interesting source. . . The bark of the Pacific yew tree! Makes you wonder how many cures for diseases are hiding in plain sight. . . Or being covered up by the pharmaceutical industry because they aren't profitable enough. :')

-My understanding of chemo from TV and movies made me believe it made you puke nonstop. . . But, because doctors anticipate the nausea, they have plenty of preventative treatments so it's not nearly as common a side effect as it once was. I didn't throw up once! But I did get nasty heartburn and plenty of bowel issues to make up for it, yikes. (I once was someone that got anxiety about bringing up embarrassing problems to my doctors, this experience has bled me dry of shame. . .)

-You don't always have to lose all your hair either! For those recieving meds that cause hair loss, cooling caps are an option. They're expensive, but some hospitals (including mine, thankfully) have programs for those that can't afford them. (Partly because nurses weren't too keen on helping only the richest patients keep their hair.) Cooling caps work by chilling your scalp, reducing the amount of blood flow (and thus chemo drugs) that reaches your hair follicles. IT FEELS LIKE THE WORST BRAIN FREEZE EVER BECAUSE IT ENCASES YOUR SKULL IN ICE AND IT ADDS LIKE 3 HOURS ONTO YOUR INFUSION VISIT, but hey! I kept like 50% of my hair, and I would have kept more if it wasn't for the goddamn doxorubicin (which is notoriously tough on hair). MY IDENTITY IS VERY HAIR-BASED so it made me feel better.

-Of course, you don't just lose hair on your head, though! First went the pubes, then the armpits, eyebrows, and now my eyelashes are on their way out. . . Arm and leg hairs seem the most resilient (in my case, anyway).

-THE BEST (aka worst) side effect of chemo for me, personally, has been the chemically induced menopause. Chemo causes you to temporarily lose your period, which sounded like a huge bonus! Until the hot flashes and the night sweats started. Not fun to deal with during the summer!!! I hope this is extra intense because of it being more abrupt than naturally occuring menopause, otherwise I DREAD getting this shit for real in the future, yowza.

-Because chemo drugs are tough on your veins (and can cause serious tissue damage if an IV isn't placed correctly), patients often get a port-a-cath placed in their chest to make the constant blood draws and infusions easier. I got one and I CANNOT WAIT TO GET IT OUT. It's internal, but you can feel the plastic disc "target" where they stick the IV cuz it's right under the skin and it gives me the heebie jeebies UGHHH. . . Also one of my cats almost stuck his filthy nail in it and that would've been DISASTER. . .

-The 20-34 age group only makes up 2.7% of all cancer cases. . . Which I definitely noticed in the waiting rooms! I felt out of place and didn't end up talking to many other patients, but the nurses were all very kind to me.

-It might go without saying, but where you go for treatment matters big time!!! The local hospital I got diagnosed at dragged their ass on scheduling me for a mammogram (putting me at risk for metastasis). . . And the chemo regimen they presented to me afterwards was either outdated or not specifically geared toward Triple Negative breast cancer cuz it was pretty different than the regimen I ended up on (which is supported by the most current research). . . I'm lucky enough to be close enough to Boston that I could travel up there for treatment! If you have a life-threatening condition, it's worth making the trip to the nearest city with a good hospital, believe me. (Getting stuck in traffic after treatment sucks HARD though, god.)