My brain, this morning, is a jumbled mixture of excitement, anxiety, relief, anticipation, and "lets get this over with"!! Today is Cycle #5, which marks a change to a new chemo drug. Instead of the Cyclophosphamide and Adriamycin of cycles 1-4, I switch to Paxlitaxel for cycles 5-8. Hence, the cause of my anxiety . . .
As the dashing and quiet-spoken oncologist put it yesterday, there is a large possibility of a slight allergic reaction and a rare possibility of a severe allergic reaction. Not very reassuring news!!! Because of the high likelihood of reaction, I will be pre-loaded with three intravenous steroids/antihistamines which might make me drowsy or might make me "loopy" (or loopier than usual!) Then, the IV drip is extremely slow -- a minimum of 4 hours (and maybe up to 6 if I show ANY signs of reaction). I've only had to run sprints at the Cancer Agency so far, but today will be a marathon day. I'm extremely thankful that Kate can start out the marathon with me, staying for over an hour before she has to rush off to class. That way, if I'm grasping at my throat because I can't breathe, she can flag down the closest nurse for me before I turn blue. The oncologist must have sensed my anxiety from the barrage of questions I laid on him, as he promised to have an Ativan waiting for me in case I need to relax a wee bit!
After I saw the oncologist yesterday, it was time for blood work again. I'm sorry to have to report that things did NOT go well -- again! Laura, the same poor lab tech who struggled with me 4 weeks ago, only attempted about 10 minutes of contortions (including sitting forward, which DID NOT WORK!!) before resorting to the clot buster. Good thing I had plugged the meter for 3 hours -- must have anticipated the worst, I guess. While I was whiling away my 75 minutes for the "buster" to work its magic, I had the most adorable visitor ...
This is Moose!!
Isn't he just the cutest boy you've ever seen??!!?? Moose is a therapy dog who comes to visit at the Cancer Agency once a week. He was incredibly soft and smelled REALLY good -- not like soggy, wet dog at all (it was POURING all day yesterday). I've always kind of wondered about the value of therapy animals visiting old folks homes and hospitals, but Moose brightened up my mood and my day. I even thought about him and his affectionate ways several times last evening. YAY for therapy animals!!
I am extremely pleased to report that the clot buster did its thing and blood immediately gushed out the tube when my wait time was up. Apparently, about 50% of people with a port grow a little protein flap at the end of the tube -- kind of like a one-way valve -- that will allow fluids in, but closes off the opening when suction is applied. My port access was able to be left in, so no poke today :)
Marathon start time -- 1200 hours ... 2 hours, 19 minutes and counting!!
I will be overjoyed to be able to fill in one more chemo box and consider myself officially 5/8 DONE!!
No comments:
Post a Comment