Today's the day!!

Monday 12, 2010
I know this sounds like an outrageous thing to say, but I was actually looking forward to starting chemo, just to get going and have the ordeal be over!

So, with Peter off on another business trip to Europe, Emma and I set off for the hospital looking as if we were going on a trip of our own. I had my special bag with the Feel Good Blanket and my FP Designs workbag with the Sunday paper, the Monday paper and my laptop. Emma had her backback and laptop. What was I thinking?! There wasn't a second to even look in my work bag.

First off : finger stick, weigh-in and blood pressure. Next: loooooong wait for a chair in the infusion room which was a busy spot that day. The waiting room faces a lovely outdoor patio (I'm going to offer to spruce up their pots next time I'm there!) and has doors from two corridors and another opening into the infusion room. The place is buzzing, cheerful and not the gloomy space you might think the waiting room to a chemotherapy treatment center might be. My friend Peggy, who is having radiation, came by for a long chat before disappearing off for her treatment, then came back to chat some more.

Francesca, daughter #3, has decided that she's going to mother me through this, which is lovely, and so she came over to check on me. I showed her around and she met all my team and saw that I was in good hands!

FINALLY, a chair became available and I was settled in, reclined, covered in the Feel Good Blanket, much admired by everyone, patients and nurses alike! Val the vein nurse removed the rest of the glue still stuck to my port and got ready to plug me in. "I'm going to count to three and you take a deep breath" Crunch into the port. Easy! I'll get used to it. There was a whole bunch of bags ready to drip in. These days they are determined to prevent chemo patients from suffering from nausea or vomiting, so you get a dose of zantac for the stomach, something to prevent nausea and a steroid. When that had dripped in and made my head spin, Val came back with two syringes of Adriamycin, a bright red liquid, which she shot into my port line, and then a syringe of Cytoxan, which went into my saline bag to drip slowly. The whole thing took about 2 hours.

The recliners all face the nurses station in the center of the room, so you can pretty much see everyone. It is a totally non-threatening place. Some people nap, others chat with friends, eat lunch, talk to each other. It's quite the party place. If you're hungry, there are bagels and cookies. I managed most of the crossword, Emma worked on the marketing plan for her non-profit, Peaks over Poverty, and the time passed quickly. I was unplugged and good to go!

In fact, when we got home, I was so good to go that we worked in the garden for a couple of hours! Did feel really dizzy, though. Let's see what happens later!