First Chemo and Yes, The Nurse Knows I’m Blogging About Her
I’m here, hooked up, in my chair, getting the saline drip and ready to get started! But let me tell you what happened before I was in my winter wonderland.
This morning, my ride, “Butch” arrives to bring me to chemo. He is an older man, retired and volunteers quite a bit with the American Cancer Society. He picks up me and LeShon and apologizes for the smell. It seems his dogs (white dogs – I’m wearing dark brown) like to eat the snow while he is using the snowblower. So we are coming into the clinic and I am smelling doggie. Now I love dogs and have even owned some but that’s why I have leather seats in my car. My main concern is I hope the smell doesn’t make me sick in this man’s van!
((Drugs are taking effect))
We get to the clinic and my port has to be accessed for the first time. It was installed last Friday so it’s still a little tender. The nurse (very nice but will remain nameless) has to insert a needle into my chest to the port. I held my breath and it felt like a quick bee sting. She said it was flushing back correctly but there was some resistance on the fluid going in. She tested it a few times and was satisfied. I then went to go meet with my doctor.
My doctor is a nice guy and wants to make sure I am comfortable with everything going on. He tells me my scans are good but they found 3 abscessed teeth. WTH? I don’t even know what an abscess tooth is! My teeth feel great, thank you. After being faced with the prospect of having my 3 lower front teeth pulled, the dentist said we are ok for today but to see him pronto!
So we come into the chemo room and I am in chair 12. The chair with the bird feeders and view. Yes!!! I also have plugs for laptop, cell and mp3 (which I need to organize LeShon’s). The nurse comes back and tells me there is some resistance in inserting the drug. The way to fix it is to take out the 3/4 inch needle and insert the 1 inch needle. Yeah,right. Please remember these pin pokes are in my chest! She make the change and feels much better due to the medicine they are giving me.
I can’t tell what i AM TYping anymore. Twitter is about all I can handle right now!
