Chemotherapy #1

I hope everyone is having a good week.

My first chemo treatment was this morning. I gotta tell ya, I was a little nervous (but I think I put on a good front!). Things went really well. I sincerely hope I would be saying that if things hadn't gone so well. But let's focus on the positive.....

I arrived at TN Oncology 10 minutes late. Traffic was horrible. It took us an hour to get there. I figured they've, at times, kept me waiting longer than that so I didn't feel so bad about it. :)

I was called back to the lab and had blood drawn. I actually let them draw it out of my arm this time instead of the port because 1) I was scared the port wouldn't work and 2) they would've had to send me back to a room first, draw blood, wait on lab results, and THEN see Dr. Yardley. Allowing them to draw blood through the vein in my arm would get the ball rolling quicker. Afterward, I was taken to a room.

One of the research nurses came in and we talked for a few minutes. Then Dr. Yardley's physician assistant came in and talked to me. I never did see Dr. Yardley. I'm not sure how I feel about that at the moment. I really didn't have anything to say to her and I guess she didn't have anything to say to me either since we went through it all 2 weeks ago. Trisha (the assistant) talked to me a little bit about the medications I would take home. I have 3 anti-nausea drugs: 1) Emend (2 pills, 1 each morning on Thur and Fri) 2) Compazine to be taken every 6 hours as needed and 3) Zofran to be taken every 8 hours as needed. They all block different nausea receptors and can all be taken together. As Dr. Yardley told me on my first visit, it's easier to prevent nausea than to go in an rescue me after I get sick.

The other drug is Levaquin, an anti-biotic. It's to have on hand in case I develop any kind of infection. Most of the time, as luck would have it, those things happen at 2am on a Saturday morning when there is no one in the clinic; just an on call doctor who may or may not know my history and exact circumstances. Anywho, the anti-biotic will already be in my hands should I need it.

I was taken to the chemo treatment room and found a seat in the corner. My favorite place. :)

A few minutes later they came by and had me sign a consent form for the relaxing drug, which they told me was the Benedryl. They brought over some supplies and I held by breath. This was the moment we'd been waiting for.

I asked the nurse if she had the long needle. She said it was 1". That didn't sound very long to me. She said they had a 1 1/2" and she used that. Then she said, "Oh. You could've used the 1". It should be plenty long. This longer one is sticking out some." I would rather be safe than sorry, so I think I'll stick with the 1 1/2". The port worked beautifully. I didn't know whether to jump up and dance or cry. I felt a lot more relaxed at that point. Plus, my friend Karri Tucker recommended a numbing cream called Emla Cream. It worked great! I hardly felt the needle go in at all.

I was given a steroid and an anti nausea drug. It took roughly 20 minutes for it to finish dripping. I was then given the Benedryl. It was a fairly small bag, but it was potent. Almost immediately I felt the room start to spin a little and got a little sleepy. But I was having a conversation at the time and just kept right on going. (Insert women-who-never-shut-up-joke here) I felt like lying back and sleeping a little, but really, I wanted to stay awake. I wanted to see what they were gonna do next.

After the Benedryl, they gave me a red drug but not in a drip bag. It was in a very large syringe. Kelly, the nurse, sat with me and gave it to me by hand, pushing it in very slowly and making certain she was getting a blood return. She said they do it that way because they have to make absolutely certain they are getting this drug in the vein. The blood return shows her that the vein is being accessed. So they watch it very closely and administer it by hand. Once that was completed, she gave me more anti-nausea medication and then the final 2 chemo drugs. One went in very slowly because it can cause a bad reaction. They wanted to make sure I was going to tolerate it well. I did, and after half of it was gone, they sped up the drip. That one bag took almost an hour. The final drug took roughly 30 minutes and then I was given a saline solution and heparin to clean out the port and prevent blood clots. I was there for about 6 hours but it flew by.

They unhooked me and sent me on my way. I will go back tomorrow for a shot of Neulasta. It helps to boost my immune system and shorten the time that it's down. My next appointment is Wednesday, Sept 29th. I had originally thought my appointments would be on Tuesdays because they told me it was less crowded. But today it wasn't as bad as 2 weeks ago on a Tuesday. Also, Kelly told me today that the last several Tuesdays have been very busy. During chemo, a very nice lady named Barbara came by with a basket of homemade breads. Today she had banana, strawberry and chocolate chip banana. And it was VERY good. Now THAT is a ministry I can get behind! :) OK, OK.......I'm coming clean. I'm switching to Wednesdays because Barbara comes ONLY on Wednesdays. Who wants to go with me now? :)

Tonight I'm feeling so much better than I thought I would. Why is it you only hear about the horror stories? (Dr. Cooper told me once that people always want to have a better story at family reunions, so they embellish as much as possible. Isn't that interesting?) My legs are a little sore, sort of like I have the flu. But it's not bad. And I'm a little sleepy. I took a short nap this afternoon, and am hoping to sleep through the night. I'm going to take a long, hot bath to help relax the muscles and probably take some Advil or Aleve.

The worse news of the day? Someone hit my car in the parking lot. They did, however, leave me a note with their name and phone number. I called and she apologized, saying they would definitely take care of the damage. She also told me that her car had been totaled. I screeched, "In THIS accident?" She said no, it had been totaled a couple of weeks ago and she hit mine using a rental car. I'm thinking at this point she's either hit a run of really bad luck, or she's one of those horrible drivers who applies mascara while barreling down the interstate, changing the radio station and driving with her knees. She MIGHT be the reason I believe everyone should have to re-test for their driver's license every 5 or 1o years. But God is faithful. I'm expecting this all to be taken care of in the next few days and it will go better in real life than in my imagination. Romans 1 tells us that the people of Paul's day knew God, but did not glorify Him as God or give thanks to Him and became vain in their imaginations. I love the New American Standard version. It says they "became futile in their speculations." I seem to always expect the worst. Futile. Speculations. Praise God that He is working on me still.

I will keep everyone posted the next several days on how I'm feeling. Some of the side effects won't hit me for a few days. As each chemo treatment comes along, things will get progressively worse. It just takes it out of you. This first treatment will be a measuring stick of how well I will do with the next 5 treatments. It's round 1 of a 6 round fight. And yes, I did have my cancer butt kicking shoes on today. I wore brown hi heels and what I call my Wonder Woman bracelet for good measure. I'm sure they helped but truth be told, God is the reason things went so well today. C'mon......I've got to give credit where credit is due.

Just for fun I got a shirt that reads "My oncologist is better than your oncologist" and a button to put on my work bulletin board that states "I'm fighting cancer......what are YOUR superpowers?" I put it next to the button that states, "If the shoe fits....buy it!" I work with all men and they just need a little reminder sometimes that I'm a girl, not one of them, and that I'm not their secretary. I do NOT make coffee or copies, except for my boss. He signs my paychecks! Sorry fellas.

Have a great rest of the week! Love and hugs! -