Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Chemotherapy - Session III

Weeeeeeee! I completed my 3rd chemo treatment today! I am now 1/4 of a way through!

I forgot to get a print out of my exact counts today, but apparently my neutrophils were where they were supposed to be! Dr Azar sounded happy that it worked and I will keep praying that one shot of neupogen per session will work for the entire regimen. That is very very good news!

My appointment was at 9am. Yuck! I am soooo not a morning person. My mom wanted to go, but Darren is out of school now and I didn't want him to be alone all day long. Really, I didn't even mind the thought of going alone this time - I had a little craft project to work on to keep me busy and pass the time. As I promised her I would - I called Sheila to let her know that I was probably going to go by myself. Of course, - and I knew she would - she offered to keep me company. I suggested that maybe she could meet me for lunch, and that way she wouldn't be there the whole day, but then I would have a ride home. But she ended up picking me up bright and early and staying for the whole appointment (9am-1:30pm). Thank you Sheila! And thank you mom for taking care of my kid! Love you both!

When we got to the clinic, the line was out of control running out the lobby and down the hall. I've never seen it that long! I asked Sheila if she would hold my basked of crafts while she waited for me to check-in. She took the basket from me and said "sure, but I will stand in line with you!" I felt bad, and she wouldn't let me take it back from her! While we were waiting, I saw my favorite PA - Theresa Capaci and she came right over to give me a hug. It's always nice to see her! And, thankfully, the line went pretty quickly!

Here's a photo of the view from the wing that we receive chemo in. Today we faced west.
My nurse was Johanne. I really only saw her once - but Charla, Laney, Julie and Lisa all stopped by to see me, as well as my new friend Angelo from last session. I got to show off my newly stitched fanny-pack, and they were oh-so-impressed - hahaha! Sheila and I were making roses out of PartyLite votive candles for an open house I am having later this month. I handed them out to some of the nurses and it seemed to put a nice smile on their faces. I told Sheila, "it makes me want to just carry a basket of them around to hand out to people". The nurses told me it looked like we were having a little party in our corner of the wing. I guess we kind of were. At least I was having fun.

So the good thing is - things flowed really well today. I didn't have to wait long to see Dr Azar. Got my labs back quickly. Didn't have to wait long for meds.... and the time seemed to fly by - comparatively. Since we got out earlier than normal, we stopped for lunch afterwards. But not before Sheila ended up carrying ALL of my stuff out to the car - the craft basket and two bags of supplies, while I carried - a Coke! It was kind of funny so of course, I wanted to take a photo. As Sheila (carrying basket and bags, shuffled for the camera to take a picture too), gets told that "photo taking is NOT allowed at Kaiser!" by a security guard who happened to be passing by. Oops! I wish I would have gotten a picture of her! Next time...

I'm home now. My headache has not kicked in full force, but I can feel it coming on. I am hot and I am tired and my jaw hurts. I can feel some of the neuropathy (tingling sensation) in my fingers, but it's not too bad. I wasn't able to drink an iced drink for lunch - but I am learning to deal with that. I have a big bruise on my arm where I got my neupogen shot two days ago (thank you Sheila for giving me the shot, and remember, I don't blame you - so don't feel bad) - but the bruise makes me even more thankful that I don't have to take that shot 5 days a week! And - my side effects of it were not nearly as bad as two weeks ago! So things are going good... and, I am a quarter of a way through! I feel like I should be planning a party or something?? Hahaha! Nice try huh?

Allright, I need a nap. Hope all is well with all of you! I know if you read this often, you know what's going on with me. Hope you will still keep in touch and drop me an email or a comment at least.

Hugs,
Tommy

1 comment:

Lori Lynn said...

Is that you begging for comments? I'm glad the session went well for you. The thought of you taking a picture of the guard who told you not to take pictures makes me giggle. What was she going to do, kick you out and tell you not to come back? Seriously, that's too funny. I want to see a picture of these roses your making with the votives. They sound cute, but I can't quite picture them.