First Day of Chemo

I am not feeling so great, so this will be really short.  Today went smoother and easier than I had feared.  Before each chemo treatment they have to draw blood and take all the vitals so they can monitor any changes.  The port that was placed yesterday came in handy with getting the blood.

But, I was feeling pretty lousy when I woke up...probably because of the rough night last night.  My left shoulder began a constant throb so I had to take more pain med, but then I was up with a bunch of nausea (assuming reacting to the pain pills and the anesthesia).  At least I could drink a cup of coffee this AM and we found some of the nausea med left over from the Shingles episode.

Anyway, I was still freaked out to walk into the Infusion Room, but I held it together.  I found a spot I liked....Next to a wall and facing a window that overlooks Midtown.  They washed down my recliner in alcohol, and it was comfy.  Note to self:  Bring a blanket, pillow and grippy socks next time.  They ran some saline, Ativan to help me relax, steroids to help make the nausea med work longer, then the nausea med, then finally we got to the bright red chemo followed by a much bigger bag of the 2nd chemo drug.  Altogether we were there almost 5 hours.  The nurses were all great...can't say enough good about all of the personnel.

I am about to sign off because I am so tired and growing a little concerned bc I am starting to feel queasy and I didn't think that was supposed to happen this fast.  Hmmmm.





Here is a shot from before the port placement surgery yesterday  We had a two hour delay so I had to lay in this bed about three hours.  This is the 1st one with a TV, but it was on a cooking channel, and I hadn't eaten since dinner the night before, so that wasn't awesome, but still a distraction.