June 14.   

Treatment #4.  Treatment room 2.    


 A month all ready!


The sun is shining brightly through the window, feels great. 


Very quite in here compared to last week, nurse says there are only 50 patients scheduled for this room today,

 All setup and running.....I trust the rest of this session will be uneventful. 
Benadryl is already starting to work....  feeling slightly drowsy.  I think they are running fluids faster than usual. It feels like having one drink too many and too fast.  
Zzzzzzzzz


I so desperately want to take to take a picture, and should not...... Hmmmm where there a will there's a way



This caught my eye as  I looked over at the next chair, the woman is sleeping and I did not want to take her photo. 

To paraphrase a song......  Any place I hang my wig is home.

I am home now... taking a nap soon. Very groggy but

VERY GREATFUL, things are going well.

M

June 10




The White Roses Are In Bloom......

I keep forgetting that I don't have any hair to wear them in....

 Notes from the treatment room.........   June 7      3of 12

The staff are so kind and welcoming, even the trainees. They exude confidence and thus instills it in their patients.  I am in a private room with a bed. 

However treatment allocations are bases on whatever is open at the time. All the IV  spots are comfortable recliners, and there is a comfortable chair for the accompanier.

The nurse has checked  my blood pressure, oxygen levels, heart rate and temperature all at the same time. That beats the old way of doing everything with several different tools, and takes up less time. 

First on the list is to disinfect the area of the chest where the power a cath is, then I feel prick, and the IV is inserted✅ Both the nurse and I have to wear a mask while this part  is being done.

Then I swallow a  white pill of ward of any  nausea ✅
Then a big bag of Benadryl  IV ✅

Benadryl makes me feel a bit dizzy and  my words feel thick..

Stu has gone to find me water,  I did not bring any this time I thought I would not have to be unplugged from the wall to get the bathroom as many times as last. 

Another bag of stuff going through, this is more stuff to keep away the nausea. Decadron to be exact ✅

There is beeping going on all around me....each one is a indication that something needs to be stopped, or a bag of fluid needs to be changed. 
I think the Benadryl is affecting my ears as well...Stu is talking to me but saying the strangest things😀


hmmm. Getting sleepy. 

 My IV poll is having a conversation with another one nearby. I think it is time to stop the Decadron. 

I was right, another anti nausea med is now running ✅,,,   is a lot in one day, but so worth not being sick to my stomach. A woman has just arrived, she needs to be on a bed  for her treatment. I  offered to move, a Lazy Boy type chair works well for me. 

It is a busy place, 31 treatment places 

This is my third of 12 weekly treatments, I see many familiar faces..some with IVs running in their arm, others through the in dwelling catheter is with us all the time. 

Many women have lots of hair, this may be their first treatment, or they are wearing a wig....I am letting my little bald, ( well actually peach fuzz) head be au natural. 

Benadryl makes my legs feel restless...


I am beeping again....

Everyone is speaking French, however they do their best to talk to me in English. 

The nurse is gowned and the purple gloves are on....time for the TAXOL,  it seems one of the nurses did not sign off on the Decadron so she has to go and it verified for the chart.

And we are back. 

Taxol just started, it runs for an hour and 15 mins ✅

Apparently I fell asleep.....sure hope I was not sounding off my best snores😀

Bathroom stop....got mysel unplugged from the wall without any major disasters. And IV runs for another 7 minutes, then rinse, remove all the tubes and head for home. 

Thank you for flying chemo express with me.

I should have left all the typos and mistakes in...... don't type, and take Benadryl at home.... stay safe....
M

June 2......

2 out of 12 down....... 10 to go....

Nothing major to report, except FOOD TASTES TERRIBLE

YUCK.

First treatment  of Taxol yesterday..... 1st of 12 weeks....

Total IV time 2 hours, the first hour is two meds for nausea plus Benadryl in case of an allergic reaction....

All went well, with the exception of having to wait an hour before my scheduled start time, and someone had an allergic reaction :(

I feel great this morning, and just getting set to take Mr. Dog out for his morning walk.


M

THERE ARE DAYS THAT I GET ANNOYED FOR NO REASON.......



My dear husband has surprised me with a Fitbit exercise tracker..I was using another brand for several months but unfortunately its strap broke, and  I gave up wearing it. When setting up the new device I had to enter my height, weight, and date of birth.....

I like to have a calculation of how far I have walked over the course of the day.My Iphone does a great job, but I have to make sure I have it with me all the time, and that it is charged.

Yesterday was my first walk with the new tracker, I did one of my usual walks with the dog near our house, down the road and into the woods, which has always shown up as 1/2 mile on my phone. I was  very surprised when I found that the new device was showing more than double the steps I would usually register, and about the same distance. I made a few more tests, and again it showed far too many steps.... so I delved deep into the settings, and discovered that it had arbitrarily entered my stride as 10.01 inches...THAT WOULD BE NO MORE THAN A SHUFFLE.....  Did the computer decide that because I was a 5 feet 4 ( seems that I have shrunk over the years) and a month short of 75 that I was a little OLD lady, out with a cane?

One more thing..... it measures heart rate, quite accurately..... so when it came back with a message for me that said...my resting heart rate of 70-74 was "excellent for a woman of my age" I could not help be feel it was being condescending.


Other than that... all is well... I have completed the first lot of chemo, and will start another session next week, for 12 weeks. I will let you know how it goes.....

Maureen

Tuesday, May 2,  2017

Chemo Day..... and the last one of this particular cocktail... and I feel a post coming on.

They give me  many anti nausea meds (steroids) before I start my treatment, wait 1/2 hour... then more steroids mixed into the IV's that are administered with the "chemo" through a catheter that has been implanted into my chest.

All this make me a Chatty Cathy for sure...I notice I speak faster, louder, and am not beyond telling the same story more than once...

But I have energy...... I walked for 20 mins this afternoon after my treatment...

Kevin said he would make supper, and was planing on using the leftovers from chicken baked with 40 cloves of garlic.( so good, you must look up the recipe). While I was out he took any remaining chicken off the bones,put it in a cast iron pot at the back of the stove, and had a good 3 cups to work with. When he was in the basement cold room, looking for potatoes,  Chance thought the chicken was for him, and gobbled it down! He is a tall dog when he stands on his hind legs, reaching the back of the stove is not a problem.
 We had to find a plan B for supper. When in doubt there is always a great meat sauce, and pasta.

Back to the chicken carcass .... I feed the Ravens, and there are many around... really BIG guys...it is a super way to clean out the 
fridge...
So I gathered up the carcass, some stale bread, some sliced ham that should have been eaten a few days ago, and offered up a feast.

 I place the food  on a high platform that the dog can not reach and call the Ravens. It is probably just as well that I can't add a sound file here but, they do hear me, and usually show up in about 5 minutes.. There is alway a sentinel or two around, to sound the alert should anything interesting happen... like food or danger.

Two or three calls is usually enough, but today the steroids kicked in and I probably called them 10 times.... it is a harsh call and there I was, in the middle of the back yard,with my bald head and cawing...loudly.. I am sure the neighbours wondered what the Hell was going on this time!

P.S    Chemo is doing the job, the lump is much much smaller, and all is going well......

M