One down, Seven to go.

This seemed like a much longer day than I expected, also. Seems like that's happening to me a lot lately.

We left at 7:15 a.m. for our 8 a.m. appointment. We thought there would be an hour of training, then two hours of meds, so three hours, out the door at 11 a.m. Well, no, that's not how it went.

They did start talking to me at 8. They are good and prompt at St. Agnes. I'll give them that. The first thing they had to do was access the port. It was still under a large, clear plastic bandage with a bulls eye drawn on it and steri strips above where the incision was. We all thought the bulls eye was where the nurse should aim the shot, but the first nurse did not think it was there. She poked and rolled the skin around looking for it. The site is sore and swollen still, having been installed only yesterday. She thought she found it, but she brought another nurse over to try, and then a third nurse. Finally they all agreed where it was, not near the bulls eye.

Next problem was the numbing. I had brought a prescription cream that I was told was to numb up the area before inserting the needle through the skin. Well, no one mentioned that it had to be applied one hour before they needed to insert the needle. Now it was too late to use it today, so they decided to freeze it with an ice bag. I hate ice bags, but I was a good girl and held it in place for awhile through my shirt. That didn't satisfy them, so they made me put it on a paper towel on the skin. Still not good enough, so right on the skin it went. I got pretty cold, but it worked. They said pushing the one inch long needle in there would be the hardest thing I had to do all day, but they lied. I felt NOTHING. Either I was so frozen or they were so good that I did not feel a thing. It was fast and easy. Thank God!! One hurdle over.

Charlie, a nine year survivor of cancer, volunteers in the chemo treatment room, so he plied me with drinks and food. I took a hot tea with sugar and a glass of water. Later I had another round of that, followed by another water, and a glass of coke. Plenty of liquid by mouth plus the saline IV, so there were several trips to the bathroom. LOL

Once the port was accessed, the first step was to draw blood out for CBC. That took about 45 minutes to get the results, and during that time the nurse went over lots and lots of information about the whole process, the drugs, the side effects, general procedures, etc. I now have another huge notebook to carry around and read. They are very thorough at this place, for sure. When the labs came back good, I was allowed to take the first oral pill, Emend, for nausea. That was at 9:10. That is to be taken about an hour before the chemo drugs start, so they administered IV saline and another pre-med for nausea. The drip took about 20 or 30 minutes. The nurse did more talking. I did more trips to the bathroom.

Finally around 10ish, the Red Devil was given. This is the Adriamycin, but it's bright red, comes in three large syringes that the nurse has to push by hand into the port. It took about 30 minutes to do that one. By then my tummy was growling a bit, so Volunteer Charlie brought me Ritz Peanut Butter Crackers and more water. Yum.

Next came the Cytoxan. It's a clear drug that goes in by itself as a drip. It takes about an hour. While I was finishing that one up, I began to feel very, very sleepy. I had been trying to do puzzles, but I could not focus. I felt so out of it. When the drip was done, the nurse checked my blood pressure. 80 over 43, worse than in the hospital. So they loaded up another saline bag and brought me lunch, since it was now almost noon. I got a delicious bowl of homemade vegetable soup, a tuna salad sandwich, and a bag of chips. This is when the real Coke appeared because the nurse thought I needed the caffeine, too. At first it was just too much effort to sit up and pick up the spoon for the soup, or to hold the sandwich. I could manage a small bite and then laid back in the chair with my eyes shut. Mark and the nurse kept reminding me to eat. Little by little, I ate it all and I could tell that i was more alert and feeling better. They took my blood pressure again and it was 114 over 55, so the nurse was happy and disconnected me from the IV. She flushed the port and took the access needle out. I was sent home at about 12:20. A long session.

Unfortunately my trauma for the day was not over. First thing in the morning at the house, I realized I was constipated again. I didn't have time at home to keep trying because we had to go to the hospital. At the hospital I tried and tried to be successful every time I went to urinate. No luck. I was starting to feel in pain, depressed, and upset again. We left the hospital and drove down the street to Subway. I had been given a great lunch, but Mark didn't get one. He got his usual salad and I got a bottle of water and another bag of chips. I felt ok eating it, but I was worried about the constipation. After Mark ate, we walked next door to the Giant and bought a few things, including a soft toothbrush and salt for oral hygiene if I get mouth sores, Immodium AD in case I get diarrhea (seems ironic today), stool softeners (which I will take immediately on getting home), and some other normal grocery items. We got home at 2:45.

Mark was exhausted and immediately fell asleep on the couch. I tried to sleep on the chair, but I was unsuccessful. The constipation dragged me into the bathroom several times. My stomach is queasy so I took the Ativan at 3:15 since that's the only thing I have here that I'm allowed to take today for nausea. It also makes you tired and drowsy. About 5 p.m. when I was sweaty, feeling sick to my stomach, and screaming in pain in the bathroom again, I went upstairs and did the other Fleets enema that Mark had bought back from the other surgery. It was difficult to do and seemed to take a long time to work, but it was successful. I felt much, much better afterwards. I also felt drained of all energy, woozy, queasy, and somewhat unhappy. Typing this blog seems to be a lot of effort. In fact it has been written in stages with long naps between sentences sometimes.

I have to go back tomorrow at 1:30 for the Neulasta shot. It has to be given 24 hours after the chemo ends. I'm not looking forward to it. The nurse said it will be OK when I first get it, but that night or the next day I will feel achy all over like I have the flu. That's the bone marrow working on overtime to produce new blood cells. I'm allowed to take ibuprofen or even Percoset if it gets too bad. Can't wait to add that feeling to the queasy, sick, tired feelings I already have.

Mark took pictures of me in the chair and the plan is to put some of those pictures here. Hopefully it worked and you are seeing them.