FCKuCANCER.

ok so lets get this out of the way. the port area is sore, and still bandaged. i didn’t get the bright idea to put on a bra til last night, and that helped tremendously. the sagging was pulling on the bandage and ugh it blistered a little in two places.

at the infusion center my village was sal. momma and elena stayed at home to get things ready for the patient. we had to wash our hands, i was weighed and ushered into the private room – i assume because this was the first infusion. there were a lot of consults.

first up, i met the nursing staff. they were all super friendly. a recent standup comedy routine came to mind…if you know, you know. she made sure i was comfortable, walked me through what she was doing each step of the way. she removed the bandage, plugged the iv into the port and administered meds for nausea. two of those, one at a time…

my time line is fuzzy here but at some point my oncologist came by. we discussed the mri’s. basically she affirmed what i already knew. the cancer on my vertebrae deserves more immediate attention. radiology has to happen now. we had a bit of a disagreement, apparently i was the only one in the room that consisted of myself, sal, and the doctor who didn’t take umbrage with me reading my scans before talking to the doctors. i was clear, its my health, i’ll look at what i want, when i want if its available to me. period.

anywho. the oncology radiologist also came by later in the day to discuss the treatment plan going forward. in a nutshell, this will be my last chemo for a bit. instead of round/dose number two in two weeks, i will start radiation. they do not recommend doing them both simultaneously as it heightens the possible side effects. the doctors agreed that i still needed to do the first dose of chemo so it could start working, but now we have to focus on my vertebrae. it is positioned too close to my spinal cord for comfort. so beginning the 29th i will do daily (business days) radiology appointments for 10 sessions, then pick back up with the first phase of chemo. i don’t think i mentioned it before but now that we know the cancer has traveled to my bones, another medicine was added to my chemo. its actually a shot in my arm called xgeva. this is to help strengthen my bones, similar to the boniva drug sally fields peddled on tv infomercials for a while. also on the day following any chemotherapy, i have to go back to the infusion center for yet another shot of something that helps give my immune system a boost.

if that isnt enough…and we know it never is…i also have at home meds for – nausea, anxiety (helps me sleep), claritin, lidocane (for my port, morning of chemo appointments), and a steroid. a pharmacist also came in and walked us through every detail of the medication. very informative, at the time. i didn’t retain half of that shit, but i did appreciate it.

oh, we also ate. they gave us a menu and we ordered from it earlier in the morning. needless to say it was a long day. when we finally got home, mom and elena had cooked a meal from the chemo cook book the hospital gave us. it was very good.

now we wait. only time will tell how my body responds to it. my brother-in-law just went through it with lung cancer and he said it took him about 2 or 3 days to feel the symptoms. he was on different meds tho.