We were promptly back in the lobby at 8:50 to wait for the chemo treatment and to talk to Dr. Gregg. I didn't get in for the appointment until 9:40 but that was okay by me. There was one false alarm at 9:10 when they called for Catherine, but it wasn't me....... :-) I was really nervous for all of this but as with all the other things I've been through, this too was not so bad.
Before meeting with the oncologist, the chemo nurse took my baseline blood sample out of the port. The first prick is the worst one I hear but I dutifully applied my Lidocaine-Prilocaine Cream the size of a quarter 1 hour before and then reapplied it at 9:10 just in case. Even with the cream it still hurt a bit when she put the needle in the port but once it was in I was A-Okay. My blood pressure was a bit higher than normal but I guess that's normal really (147 over 90 and normally I'm closer to 130 over 80 normally, but I have all kinds of new normal now).
After that, I met with Dr. Gregg and got all my questions answered. She wrote me a few scripts to pick up; 2 anti nausea (Compazine (prochlorperazine) 10mg and the other one is a narcotic called Ativan (lorazepam) 1mg which will help me sleep along with helping with nausea), she also gave me 1 antibiotic prescription (to only take if directed for fevers over 100.4 called Levofloxacin 500 mg). I have decided it's good to keep all of these on hand. I just hope I'm not afraid to use them. I've sort of decided it's okay now that they've officially pumped some Kryptonite (seriously) into my viens, or it is arteries, or heart. Whatever, it's in there now.
After meeting with Dr. Gregg, I learned from Erin (my other chemo nurse) that I may have a few other new side effects of my specific chemo drugs: mouth sores, and "hand foot syndrome" which is redness, tenderness, swelling and potentially peeling and blistering of the skin on the feet and hands. I bought some L-Lysine that will help that if it happens and some Biotene which will help with the mouth sores if I get them. All of these things I'm supposed to call if they last more than 24 hours. Geez! I hope none of them happen but then I might think that it isn't working and they aren't pumping enough poison in me. The chemo treatment is aimed at the mucus areas of gastro intestinal track which begins at the mouth and goes all the way to you know where. I guess compounding the radiation with the chemo is supposed to really make me tired but we'll see. Exercising and eating right will help so I'll do that instead. My favorite tip of the day was the BRAT diet. I think it's quite appropriate for me. BRAT stands for bananas, rice, applesauce and toast. I'm supposed try and stick to non-acidic gastrointestinal friendly foods. And, the good news is sugar is NOT a no no.
Now for the grand finale. Check out the size of the super needle with the dark blue (but in the tube it looked more like the purple of a glow in the dark necklace) below. I've included a few photos of the progression. After Erin explained the process, effects and dietary needs, she started with some saline, then a steroid (which took 20 minutes to go in) and then the 10 minute "push" of the mitomycin (chemo-drug) and then she hooked me up to my nifty little carry home bag at noon that stays connected for 96 hours dispursing 5FU and sent me off. I go back on Friday, June 15th at noon to unhook. In the meantime, Day 1 of chemo / radiation "check", only 29 more to go.
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| I was a little nervous waiting |
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| Blue Mitomycin |
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| Letting it sink in with my warm blankets (favorite part) |
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| All done (sort of)! YAY Me! |
Good job, Champ!! Holy Hell! That syringe looks like something in a cartoon! It's like a joke syringe. Hoping for a side-effect free treatment because seriously..."hand foot syndrome?" Jeebus. Like the chemo/radiation isn't bad enough. You're awesome. Love the pics. :)
ReplyDeleteI know right! Wasn't going to miss a photo of that HUGE syringe. And, the color was a bit of a shock. It was great to get the first one under my belt.
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