Monday, February 20, 2012

Round 1

Right before all the action

I’m sitting here right now getting my chemotherapy not feeling bad at all. I’ve been here almost 6 hours and I have about 3 hours left to go. I probably only slept about 2 hours last night because I just felt miserable for various reasons. I was cold, my stomach was hurting a lot, I was really anxious about today, and I got really nauseous. I feel fine now though, just hanging out in this somewhat comfy chair.

We were running a bit late today (again) because the drama of last night caused us both to over sleep. When I got here they had to take my temperature, my blood pressure, and take some blood from my port to make sure I was healthy enough for the chemo. I was really nervous about them messing with the port because it’s still sore but it wasn’t too bad. The worst was when the nurse has to poke around on it to figure out where to stick the IV. But the nurses here are all over the top, super nice so one even insisted on holding my hand during that whole process, which always seems to help for some reason.  I think it makes sense that nurses would need to be extra nice when dealing with people with cancer.
The first type of chemo had to be administered gradually because there was a chance of an allergic reaction. They gave me some Benadryl before that chemo so I ended up asleep for a while. No allergic reaction though! Right now I’m on the second type of chemo which will take about an hour. I couldn’t tell you why I need two types or really what the difference is between the two. Bad patient! Because the steroids they’re giving me are making my blood sugars high, I have to stay a couple of extra hours just to get fluids.

One of the nice nurses gave me a hat and a cute brown wig that had been donated. I’ll take a picture of it at some point. But surprisingly, for now at least, I’m feeling better sitting here getting chemo than I was at home tired and throwing up a lot of my food. Hopefully I’ll feel this good tomorrow! I think the nurse said that in about a week my immune system would be at its worse. I’ll have to be extra careful about washing my hands and staying away from sick people. Dr. Gore came by while I was all groggy and noticed that my ascites (abdomen fluid buildup) has gotten worse, so he says they will have to drain it if the chemo doesn’t help with that.

I’ve been getting a lot of presents and gift baskets but my friend Jessica brought me something really just overwhelming last night. My friends (second family) at work had pooled together over $500 for me! So incredibly thoughtful! I know it’s a big deal to spare any amount of money, especially some nights at Cheesecake, so it’s such an amazing gift. I haven’t worked for almost 2 months and the doctor doesn’t think I can work for a few more, so this really helps a lot! I really have to make my money stretch right now. I sent out a message thanking everyone but it doesn’t seem like enough. I wish I could give all of them a big hug individually!
That’s all I can think of for now. I hope my laptop keeps me good company because it’s all I brought and no one can sit back here with me for more than 5 minutes at a time.

Adjö för nu! (Goodbye for now!)

3 comments:

  1. Love the swedish!
    I hope you feel OK today and that you will get some sleep tonight. You are in our thoughts!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey girl. Glad things went ok. Hope you will recover fast from it. You should add a "donate button" on your blog! I think you can use Pay Pal for it..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Excellent idea! I could use all the help I could get since I haven't worked for a couple of months and the doctor doesn't think I can handle my job and chemo at the same time. I'll try to figure out how to add one :-)

      Delete