The following day

I'm here, the day following chemo. So far, and I must be honest, I'm sacred to write all this with fear of jinxing myself, but I'm not nauseous, I don't have itchy skin, I don't have a fever, I still have all my hair (ha ha), I'm hungry, I feel fine. I know, I know, all this can change in an instant or tomorrow or every time I have chemo, but for now, 1 down 3 or 5 more to go!

I was accompanied by my sister all day, which was really comforting, eventhough I kept syaing I'd be fine. Everyone has been so nice from the valet at the Center to the receptionist to the, well, everyone. At the desk, they knew this was my 1st time and they were very sweet about it. After arriving, the day started out a tiny bit nerve racking, and although I had a sweet young lady, she was unable to find my port the first time. Then she mentioned that maybe the port had been turned around, which freaked me out and I started crying. But she got an older woman to come in and did it with no problem. So, my blood work was drawn, the needle left in, and I was ready for later in the day.

Next I went to see Dr. Lee, which by now is no secret that I have a huge crush on him, so he always puts me in a good mood. He said the small infection I had before looks fine and the stitches he added last time looked good as well. He dedcided he'll wait until next week to expand me and take out my stitches at the same time.

My next stop was with Dr. Shah. I think it was just to check with me, go over my blood work from the a.m., see if I had any final questions. This worked out great because I was able to her and her nurse pratictioner, Laura, 3 important final questions; 1st involving if I should take this 1 specific final test to determine if chemo was right for me, 2nd wondering if the chemo drugs get adjusted throughout my treatment and for what reasons, and 3rd how she will determine if I have 4 or 6 treatments. I felt good about the answers to the 1st 2 questions, but the 3rd she seems as if she's leaning towrd the 6 treatments due to my age (being young for all you smart asses out there :) ) . Overall, I was feeling fine, not too nervous.

At this point we went to lunch and dropped Freddy off at Sarah's house for a playdate with Finn and all the Doherty children. (thank you so much, Sarah) He had been a doll all moring, but we thought 3 hours of chemo was too much!

So we went back up to chemo floor. I was called back to room 10 and my nurse was Maggie. She was so nice; smart, informative, explained so much w/o being condescending. She had so much information to share about the meds, side effects, and explained every step along the way as she did it. None of it hurt, it was just like sitting there with an i.v. in. Although I thought I'd get plugged in at 2 and be done at 5, so I'd have a full 3 hours to read or sleep. But in my case, it was, med after med, after med. I think my longest uninterrupted time was about 45 minutes. Overall, it was a perfectly fine experience. I got home feeling perfectly fine. In fact I was in the mood for Sonny's BBQ, so we went over there for dinner. I did fall asleep before 10, and I slept/ stayed in bed until very late today. But if that was chemo or just my regular m.o. who's to say??

Next time, although children are not really allowed in the treatment rooms due to the fact they are little germ carriers, they have said the girls can come by very quickly just to see what is happening with me. I want them to have a visual of what is happening when "mommy is having chemo." I think this may lessen their anxiety. They haven't verbalized any stress, but curiously the night before I had it niether one could sleep and came into our room at different times during the night.

So, so far so good! We'll see how the weekend goes, so keep your fingers crossed! In 20 days I do this all over again! I have a few proceedures inbetween, like getting a neulasta shot Tuesday and I get expanded on Thursday. So I'll update about those as well, and I'll keep updating as the weekend goes on.

Thanks so much, I know I say it often, but truly, all of the support shown to me/us from the incredible meals to the warm thoughts and prayers are truly a lifeline for me. It all means so much!!

peace and love to you all,
monique