Chemo Day 1

 
My appointment at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Centers Oncology
department was set to begin at 9:30am. Well, as has been the case
lately it was late. I got in around 10:30 which means I had an extra
hour to sit and stew over what was going to happen. There were two
patients already in beginning their treatment that I tried not to
stare at but I was just so curious about how they were doing and if
they were going to turn purple and fall out of their chairs or
something. Luckily for all of us there was no falling out of chairs
or change of colors! The way that the treatment room is set up makes
sense but I never would have thought about it. There are ten chairs
set up in a horse shoe shape facing a wall with a somewhat one way
glass window that the nurse sits behind getting treatment ready and
can see all of us to make sure we are doing okay but when we look at
the glass we see her silhouette and a reflection of what is out the
windows above and behind us. That poor nurse must think that we all
like the top of her head when we are really trying to enjoy the day
through the windows reflection!
 
When it was my turn to get started the nurse had to find a decent vein
(after surgery and all these tests it has become slim pickings!) which
happened to be the one at the bend of my arm. She got the IV started
and then had to go over paperwork and have me sign consent for
treatment. Then the first pouch was added to my IV, benadryl, there
are so many allergic reactions to the meds that it is standard to give
everyone benadryl, so I got really groggy :) I guess it helped me
relax for the rest of the treatment. The second pouch got started an
hour or so later and it was the anti-nausea meds that are supposed to
last for 5-7 days (yippee!) because they don't block the receptors in
your brain but they reverse them. I am really excited about this
because nausea seems to be my symptom to everything and so far (9:20
the following morning) I am still doing alright as far as nausea is
concerned! Then pouch three gets started and it is one of the actual
chemo drugs (taxol or something like that if any of you know your
meds) and this is the one that takes FOREVER! It is a 5 liter bag and
it has to drip into your vein whereas the other pouches were all much
smaller and could drip much much faster. So this pouch took at least
three hours. The final pouch was another chemo drug but I don't
remember its name and it was a small pouch that took only an hour or
so.
 
For those of you adding up all the hours you may still be surprised
when I tell you that I was the third patient to get there in the
morning and the last to leave (by a good 45 minutes). The wonderful
nurse, Jayme, was there all by herself because the second nurse called
in sick. She ran around taking care of all of us and unfortunately
that meant that even when my meds were done I had to wait a while
before the next got started. Jayme did wonderful though! For a good
chunk of the day she had all ten chairs filled and got us all drugged
up eventually! So, I finally got done at 6:10pm. It was a long day
sitting in a not so comfy chair with my arm forced to sit out straight
so as not to bend the IV. I also got to experiment with hospital food
(as if I haven't had it in a while) and was not real thrilled with it.
Then the nurse told me that the side effects of the drugs cause taste
changes and I will have a metallic taste in my mouth. Bummer. I
really like food but not so much the idea of eating metal.
 
So that was yesterday! Kind of a long post for a long day. There are
a few more things I wanted to mention though so people don't think
that I have suddenly become anti-social. They really drilled in the
risk of infection and how I need to stay as far away from germs and
infection as possible. So, I will be attending sacrament meeting but
I will not be shaking hands and I will need to take a step back from
anyone I talk to, not because you smell, but because we are all
carriers of things whether or not we feel sick and with my body not
producing the germ fighting agents at this point I need to be extra
careful. I will also try to do the same in Relief Society. If all
goes well I will only be missing every third Sunday (when my immune
system is at its lowest).
 
I wanted to say thank you again to all of the sweet women in my ward
that are taking care of me and my family. I can not even begin to
express the depth of my gratitude for all the kindnesses shown to me,
all the service performed for me and all the prayers offered on my
behalf. Thank you to all my ward family and the support you have
given. I even have a nicely cut lawn thanks to the young men! By
having the yard done in service my husband was able to have that time
to spend with me and I feel as though I never see him these days with
all my appointments and with him solely taking care of the kiddos once
he gets home. The service that has been given us has been so
inspired, thank you for listening to the spirit and serving us in ways
we didn't even know we needed.
 
I have gotten love notes from several sisters in the ward and I wanted
to take a moment to say thank you for them. My Chemo Survial Kit made
me laugh and cry. It was wonderful. Thank you. The love notes
definitely struck a cord for me. You are all such wonderful women and
it embarasses me to admit this but so many of you said that I am so
strong and I have to come clean with you. I am only strong because I
have an army of supporters behind me. Everything I am going through
would be so diffierent if I did not have so many supporters praying
for me and helping me through. Your notes were wonderful and I
brought them with me to chemo along with a picture of my family
(because I am sappy like that) and just holding them made me better.I
love you all!
~Rachelle