The Port is In

This was a longer day than I thought it would be. Wow! The people at St. Agnes are excellent, but it's a slow process to get prepped for surgery. Clearly they do need you to come two hours before the procedure. The port was installed, and I was in waking up in recovery around 1 p.m. At 2:45 I had an appointment with the oncologist again, so I rested for awhile, then dressed, and was pushed over to the cancer center in a wheel chair.

Dr. Griffiths, my oncologist, just wanted to do one more check up before the chemo begins tomorrow. She answered our last minute questions, checked me over, explained all the process, and wished me luck.

I will admit I'm very nervous, but these people and this facility are definitely going to make it as nice as possible. I will arrive tomorrow at 8 a.m. The first time involves some teaching, also taking blood out of the port for a check of the blood count, then about 2 hours for the two IVs. They expect me to be finished around 11. I have no other plans for tomorrow. I'm just going to go home and rest and see how I fare. Hopefully, I will be fine. I have been told over and over by the doctor and the nurses that most women do just fine and have little side effects. That's what I'm hoping for! Thursday I have to go back around noon for the shot of Neulasta, but that shouldn't take too long. So yes, I'm nervous, but I'm sort of ready to get it over with. The first time is probably the scariest.