Heatherina

Chemo… a chronicle

In the hope that no one that is reading this will ever actually have to experience chemotherapy (unless you are on the other side administering it), I decided to chronicle what I go through for 2 days every two weeks.

Thursday:
7:00 AM- It can’t be time to get up… snooze button is pressed…
7:30 AM- I begin getting ready to leave the house, which is much more of a burden on Jesse than myself. He picks out a pair of sweatpants and a tank top so I can dress myself and then goes to make breakfast for me, usually consisting of some toast and tea while I sort and take the myriad of morning pills I need.
8:00 AM- Jesse and I finish packing the “chemo bag” which consists of all our necessities for the day including: heavy-duty plastic bags, napkins, and tissues (in case I’m feeling nauseous in the car), books for both of us to read, my glasses, my afternoon pills and pain medications, water bottle, juice (in case I’m nauseous and can’t eat), scarf/sweat rag (for my hot flashes), sweatshirt (because I’m not supposed to let myself get cold), our “little black book” filled with prescriptions to be filled, cards for different doctors, past labwork, etc., lollipops (because my mouth can get dry), aquaphor (for my incredibly dry lips), and my “C” bag which is filled with stuff I may need if the chemo starts to aggravate my Crohn’s. And then of course Jesse has a man-bag that has all the stuff I would keep in a purse since it’s difficult to carry a purse with a walker.
8:30 AM- Running a bit behind, we leave the apartment to catch a gypsy bus into the city. I think I mentioned before that public transportation being handicap accessible is actually a joke, so I can’t take the NJ Transit buses because the steps are too steep and there is no place to put my walker. But the nice drivers of the gypsy buses always store my walker for me and sometimes kick people out of the first seats for me.
9:00 AM- Just arriving outside Port Authority, we hop in the taxi dispatch line to catch a cab.
9:15 AM- Stuck in traffic, nauseous, and late for my appointment (as is usual for us when they schedule my treatments for before 10 AM), Jesse calls the doctor’s office to let them know we’ll be in by 9:30.
9:45 AM- In my exam room, the nurse starts an IV line by sticking a bent needle into the catheter I have in my chest and draws my blood for a CBC (complete blood count).
10:00 AM- The nurse starts my Anzemet (anti-nausea) drip. Jesse leaves to go get himself breakfast.
10:15 AM- The Anzemet is finished and the nurse starts that Decadron drip. My doctor is on vacation this week, so the visiting doctor comes in to examine me. He takes my vitals: blood pressure, pulse and listens to my heart and lungs. Good news this week: my platelets are up in the normal range! However, my hemoglobin is extremely low. Apparently it takes longer for the cells that make hemoglobin to renew themselves, so I’ll need a blood transfusion this week. Oh well, you can’t win ‘em all.
10:30 AM- The Decadron drip ends and the nurse starts a calcium and magnesium drip. Jesse returns with some food for himself and fruit and vitamin water for me and we have breakfast together.
11:00 AM- It’s time for the real treatment to begin. The nurse starts the drips of both Oxalyplatin and Leucovorin, which run simultaneously. When I’m all hooked up, Jesse leaves to run errands, and for me, the waiting begins…
11:30 AM- My book at the moment is “In Cold Blood,” which I read whenever I’m stuck in bed. But now I’m starting to get foggy from the medicine. As I look at the page the words start to stretch and distort and the page starts to swirl as I start to drift in and out of sleep.
*Side note: During administration chemo has two major side effects on me: it makes me sleepy and it makes me have to pee. So the majority of my time at the doctor is spent doing one or the other. But that’s not very interesting… so I’m not going into detail.
12:30 PM- I eat some more fruit and do a bit more reading, but I’m still feeling loopy and the words start to dance on the page again.
1:00 PM- Another calcium and magnesium drip. Feeling very sleepy and sluggish.
1:30 PM- A drip of 5-Fluorouracil. Starting to feel really hungry but still tired and my head is feeling fuzzy.
2:00 PM- My meds are finished and the nurse flushes my line and caps it off. Jesse returns with some lunch and I manage to be able to eat some soup, even though my hands are shaky.
2:15 PM: A car service is called and we’re on our way back home.
3:00 PM: I wake up when the car stops outside our apartment. The driver graciously sets up my walker and helps me out of the cab. I sit on the stoop while Jesse hauls all of our stuff up to the apartment. He then comes back down and piggy-backs me up to the futon, where I lay down and manage to get my shoes off before promptly falling asleep again.
4:00 PM: I wake up and can finally focus my mind again. I call my at-home nurse so she can come over and administer my next round of chemo. I’m feeling well enough to eat some more soup, and I’m much less shaky.
5:45 PM: My at-home nurse arrives and plugs me into my little chemo machine. This drip is 5-Fluorouracil and will pump continuously for the next 22 hours.
8:00 PM: Completely awake and alert now, I have some dinner and play a video game.
9:30 PM: I’m exhausted and keep falling asleep on the couch.
10:30 PM: I wake up long enough to drag myself to bed and I’m asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.