One Down!

Feeling ok for now 
Thanks for all the love you sent my way!


It was a long day - 
Ran errands this morning to get anti nausea sea bands and glutamine - 
Blood draw at 1:15 --  through the port this time and not in the arm.  It was a painful process to remove the steri strips to get to the port.  Tape and I do not get along!  Fortunately there was a numbing spray for when they "punched" the needle into the port -- it still hurt tho!  
All my numbers were good - yay!
Spent some time with the Doc again - discussing his findings about the reynauds and oxcili whatever.  We concluded to go for it since I am so young and it is in the lymph system. 
Where I go for the infusion is as nice as it can be - a large, 9th floor room that encircles 1/4 of the building with views out over Milwaukee with lots and lots of recliners and "company" chairs. 
A typical infusion begins w premeds - anti nausea and steroids -- that's about 15-20 min.  Everything gets hung on an IV pole. 
After the pre-meds, comes the leucovorin and oxciliplatin.  They take about 2 hours. 
Then I get a bolus infusion of the 5FU and get hooked up to the pump.  
  (Bolus means a boost - a large syringe fed into my line at full strength)   
Then they bandage my port up (more tape - yuck!) and I can go home.  
Today everything took longer b/c we had to figure out what the best tape to use was for me, and I
  had a teaching lesson on my pump (very low cute factor! It is not very comfortable, always 
  pulling on my back -- it hangs vertically, beeps periodically  and is pretty clunky ---  sleeping will 
  be a trip)
Because you are not supposed to have chemo either on a totally empty stomach, or on a full stomach, I ate "lunch" at 11:15.  By the time I got the anti-nausea meds from the pharmacy and got home, it was 6:30.  That is a very long time for me to survive on a pack of animal crackers!  (yes they have snacks there)  Further -- nausea can be triggered by an empty stomach - so by the time I got home, I was feeling a little jittery (steroids amp you up --it feels like having a strong cup of coffee) and a little green!   I was so thankful for the lovely dinner waiting for me!   Thank you Judy!  




I am going to sign off, because when I get anxious or upset, I clean.  This means that this morning when I couldn't nap, I started to clean out the fridge......I have fridge parts all over the sink!  lol


Things to be thankful for:
- yucky drugs that will "cure" me
- more drugs to combat the side effects of the yucky drugs!
-Todd's sense of humor-lightening up a hard thing
-my wonderful nurse today - Kristen, who was so kind and helpful
-YOU - my dear friends - who shower me with love in the forms of prayers, texts, e-mails,  
 presents and dinner left on my doorstep. 
    I have never felt so loved in all my life!  Thank you!