Reliving the Live Experience

10:25 AM
Ayup! Here we are ladies and gentlemen.

Monday... MONday... MONDAY!!!

In this week's Round One here are our contenders:

The ever stalwart, fashionable, FU Cancer,
fighting fear with Hope, Warrior Woman,
Vic--torrrrrr-iaaaaaaaaa!!!

In Corner Two is the sterile, clinical,

straight man bringing the big guns,

Infuuuuu-sion Puuuuuumppp!!!

10:45 AM
I am all hooked up and they've begun some basic fluids and the anti-nausea drugs. This first one is Aloxi, a member of the Zofran family. It is a slow-release version which will stick in my system for 2-3 days to help combat nausea. I've also elected to go ahead and let them keep the Ativan in the mix this morning. This anti-anxiety drug also has good anti-nausea properties and I will take all the help I can get in that area. First session chemo can be a shock on the system and I learned from the first time around to take all the extra help they are willing to offer. My focus may be a bit fuzzy for it, and it is definitely the "napping" drug. But who doesn't like a proper nap?!

I've enjoyed a tasty muffin and breakfast with my wonderful coffee all from Water Street this morning. Barely holding off on the last of the muffin (pear ginger and SO good), so that in a couple of hours I'll still have a sweet treat when I really want that little something-something. Might be asking for a fresh warm blanket (one of the best perks!) and kick back a little bit now.

11:10 AM
Let the full-scale poisoning officially begin. Avastin in the bag for an hour and a half. New warm blankie for my lap, and sometimes swiss miss hot cocoa from the volunteer cart just really hits the spot.

12:40 PM
They have massage therapists that come around and offer hand and foot massages to infusion patients. Just got a wonderful hand massage and some lovely conversation. Total props for the care and extra attention. The little things make big differences.

And also time for the newest round of drugs. Avastin is all finished up and now they are loading me with Atropine to prevent the apparent new possibility of explosive diarrhea with the Irinotecan. A rare thing, but a thing that can happen during infusion apparently. Talk about potential adventures and great campfire stories! 

Leucovorin and Irinotecan will run together for the next two hours. So this is the last downhill slide to being done for the day. We got settled in and my port accessed about an hour behind the original schedule, but they always over schedule for an hour or more just for that sort of thing. So I'm kind of right on schedule to be done and out of here around 3 PM.

2:15 PM
Just another twenty minutes left on this long infusion set. Oddly enough, this is the first chemo session ever without a nap. I felt the Ativan kick in and decided that I was going to try to focus on some online work and the blog and apparently swerved right around the sweet spot of nappiness. Fuzzy, slow, distracted inter-webbing happened instead of anything accomplishing. But, I think I can forgive myself for that today.

Feeling pretty alright and kinda mostly physically normal through this infusion session. Hopefully that means that I'll tolerate the Irinotecan without any real issues and all the anti-nausea drugs will keep me on an even keel tonight. And if all I do is sleep away the rest of the afternoon and evening upon home arrival, that's a perfectly acceptable end to the day.

3:20 PM
All hooked up to my pump and ready to head home. The bolus of 5-FU has me feeling a bit fuzzy again. I forgot how much it tires me out. Which means I can get to the epic napping upon arrival home. Yay! Back to figuring out how to work around this fashion accessory pump for the next couple of days. I'll try to be accomplish-y and post-y tomorrow. Have a hair appointment after all, so there will be pictures to post.

I'm going to call Round One firmly on the side for Victoria today. Toleration seems to be really good so far. The night will prove out as it does. Thank you for checking in on me and all the love and good wishes that have been sent out. It makes the biggest difference - Truly!