Side effects may vary.

A lot of people are curious about how it feels to get chemo, so here it is.

The trickiest part about getting chemotherapy is figuring out how you're going to feel the next day. The reaction is usually up in the air with every treatment.

(Photo: Getting injected with cancer-killer. Goodbye, Alice!)

I get treated every other week for 12 treatments. Usually I will feel like crap during the day of my treatment (which I get on Fridays), and then I will be okay for the weekend. However, on Monday and Tuesday I usually feel pretty icky and become a finicky eater and need lots of fluids. I will randomly crave pasta or carbs or fried food. It's almost like I'm pregnant! Just minus the baby part.

Here are the most common side effects to my treatments:

- nausea, which usually goes away with medication
- icky feeling, meaning gross taste in mouth and feeling gross
- inflamed gums and sore throat, which makes it hard to brush my teeth or eat
- tired, I will fall asleep SO early on the first couple days after treatment
- no appetite, so I will only eat Jell-O or melon or Ensure shakes or carrot sticks for some calories
- insane appetite, out of no nowhere I will crave pizza or ramen and especially McDonald's chicken nuggets!
- constipation, which doesn't effect me because women never poop anyway, right guys? :)
- random disappearance of my period, which doctor said is normal
- pain in my arm from the IV and the chemo (usually an intense, shooting pain)

IT ALL SOUNDS LIKE SO MUCH FUN, RIGHT?!

But for the most part, these side effects are bearable and don't get in the way of anything. I just eat differently and take a whole lot of medications to counter everything. I do work a full-time job, after all, and seem to be getting through that just fine (minus the time off to get treatment, which my boss has graciously granted me).

I go out with my friends, I drink beer, I flirt with men. Things are normal for me. Life is good and I am strangely happier than I've ever been, despite all the cancer thing of course.