First Treatment

Once again it has been an early morning for me.  Up at 6:00 a.m. to get ready for a day of unexpectancies.  My friend Becky was gracious enough to get up early and drive me to Missouri Cancer Associates (MCA).  I had several other wonderful offers but she beat everyone to the punch.  This could be fun for me to put something out last minute and see who has the fastest fingers or internet.  :)  I'm kidding...I don't have that deviousness in me.

Started the morning with a "teach" at 8:15 a.m. to go over my different medications and their side effects.  There is definitely a lot to all of this.  John showed up at the end of that to be with me during treatment.  Next blood was drawn to check my counts.  Then it was time for treatment.

I had my port put in last Friday so the steri-strips are still over my incision.  When the nurse needed to access the port, the strips were in the way so she had to pull them off.  OUCH!!  John was sitting beside me squirming and wincing.  She told me that all the pain I was going through now was going to make the "stick" less painful.  True but it still hurt.  Once I was plugged in, saline was dripped in for 30 minutes to flush the port.  Next came the steroid and nausea medicine for 15 minutes.  Then came the actual chemo.  There were two different kinds used.  The first one was red and was being pushed in by the nurse for 5 minutes.  Then the second one was dripped in for 1 hour.

I didn't feel any different during the process.  I got to eat Cheese-Its and Animal Crackers.  John was great through the whole thing.  He was able to still work but also take care of me.  Love this guy!!!!

I needed to use the restroom during the process because of all the saline.  I had to push the pump with me into the bathroom.  That was a little awkward.  It was hard to navigate and I definitely looked like a rookie.  :)  At one point, I looked like I was pole dancing because I got tangled up with it.  :)

All in all, this treatment took a total of 4 1/2 hours from arriving to leaving.  WOW!  I'm feeling good and hope that that will continue.  The nurses have me set up with a regiment of medications to stave off any nausea.  I hope it works!!  I'm not nauseous right now...I'm eating some of my mom's seven layer dip for lunch.  :)

Thank you for the prayers and thoughts...they are working.

Love to all