FIRST DAY OF CHEMOTHERAPY

I am going to begin with the long and short of it.  The short version (or maybe I should say long) is that we left our house at 7:15 a.m. and walked back in at 6:45 p.m. which included a couple of pharmacy stops.  For those of you who want more detail, read on.

The first 2 ½ hours were spent having some blood work, meeting with our physician, Dr. Homsi, and also meeting with the pharmacist.  There was quite a bit of waiting interspersed with those visits.

At around 10:00 a.m., a technician (Tyrone) began his preparations to insert a PICC line.  I just googled and learned a lot about PICC lines, what the acronym stands for (peripherally inserted central catheter), etc.  I had a PICC line earlier this year but didn’t think too much about the particulars.  Anyway, a catheter is inserted into a peripheral vein in the upper arm and is advanced up the arm through increasingly larger veins until the catheter tip terminates in a large vein in the chest near the heart where fluids can gain access to the body.  This simplified version is for people like me. 

Tyrone worked for almost three hours and was not able to get the catheter to turn down towards the chest as confirmed by an x-ray.  They determined, however, that the line could be used today for the chemotherapy, after which the nurse pulled it out.  I will go to the Banner Hospital on January 9, at which time a doctor will use fluoroscopy to aid in the insertion of a new PICC line and to confirm placement. 

Another miracle.  Whenever I lie flat on my back for a test, MRI, etc. I experience severe pain in my leg.  For a good part of those three hours I was lying flat, but my leg was quite fine.  I was so grateful for that tender mercy. 

After all that, the nurse ordered the prescribed meds -- three for nausea, etc,  two chemotherapy drugs, and a protectant for my heart totaling six infusions.  Daryl was back in the room during that time which is good, because I was pretty loopy.  I slept some, and the rest of the time I couldn’t keep my eyes open nor could I totally comprehend what was going on.  One thing that the nurse explained which we had not understood before was that this strong chemotherapy hits the system hard and by about 48 hours it is absorbed or out of the system.  During the remaining 18 days of the cycle, the body is in recovery mode. 

I am feeling okay right now – well enough to write this.  I never thought that I would be happy to be having chemotherapy, but truthfully – I am.  We love each day and look forward with hope, giving thanks again for the faith and prayers of so many good friends.

Posted by Irene