Chemo Day One

I'm going to post early today as I'm not quite sure how I will feel later.

The morning went well, I am now a 'chemo veteran'.

I woke up to my usual breakfast protein smoothie and lots of water. We drove over to the hospital and when we got there at 08:30 I took the Ememd, Ondansetron and Dexamethasone that had been prescribed as premeds to be taken one hour before chemo. Following that we went up to see my mother. She is still confused but knew us and was happy to see us. She asked what we were doing there and whether I had my results yet ;). We were able to have a short visit before physio came in to work with her; I think we convinced her that a walk would be a good thing.

I could feel the premeds starting to take effect as we arrived at the Medical Day Care area. I checked in and we were directed to the waiting area which was quite full. There was a TV and we connected our iPads to the wireless. A lady beside me was working on two puzzles, one on the coffee table in front of us and one on the table beside her, certainly more than I was able to concentrate on at that point in time. 

I was called back by my nurse Joyce and given the option of a bed or a recliner - I chose recliner which meant that there was a recliner available also for another person in my cubicle, it was soon filled with a lovely lady who I will describe a little later.

Joyce accessed my port which worked exactly as it was meant to and she was surprised at how well it had healed already - yay protein smoothies :)! Joyce graduated the same year as me and had worked in the area since 2000 - I was in very good hands. She talked me through everything and I was a little surprised to find myself joking with her as we talked.

The first infusion was The epirubicin IV push, it is red and there were three or four syringes of it, I lost count ;). This was followed by a normal saline flush, then the 5-FU, which went in over about 30 minutes followed by another saline flush. The final infusion was cyclophosphamide, which went in over 45 minutes and made me feel the most spacey with the beginnings of a slight headache, but tolerable. Then a flush and heparin flush solution before the needle was removed and I was free to go.

My cubicle mate was LeeAnne, a lovely lady with 2 daughters, one of whom was married on Saturday. She was very pleased to have made it to her wedding. I didn't ask the type of cancer but she was diagnosed eight years ago and this is the third time she is having chemo, she will have it as long as it is effective. Her husband Dave and Rod bonded fairly quickly. Dave went and bought all of us coffee while the nurse started an IV on LeeAnne (her port was not working). Visiting with this couple was wonderful, they were so relaxed about it all that it really helped me out.

About the middle of my treatments Patsy, a Day Surgery colleague from my past popped up to see me from where she now works in Radiation Therapy.  We had a great visit, time flew! She was also able to reassure me about who my radiation oncologist and nurse will be, sounds like I've hit the jackpot again - very nice to have this news.

Time to stop now. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers, I know they have made the difference for me today.

Take care everyone