Chemo #10

Today was relatively uneventful in the infusion room. It was very busy with Thanksgiving week. Some were moved to other days since no one will be there on Thursday. Michelle has been here to visit and offered to keep me company.

Again I didn't remember to take a picture of myself during treatment but Michelle had her phone and took a picture of me.

Looking at the picture I laugh because I had some knitting with me. The problem with this chemo drug (and I think it is the Benedryl and steroid that I get beforehand) is that I get a little sleepy or zoned out.

I started strong with my knitting needles but seriously only had about 16 stitches to show for my two hours of being there. See the purple gloves? That is the wonderful massage therapist that works in the infusion room in the mornings. She goes around and offers either hand or foot massages while we get treatment. If I would have chosen a foot massage I suppose I would have gotten more done on my knitting but today it was a hand massage and by the time it was done the sleepy stuff kicked in.

Michelle got to meet most of the great people who take care of me there and we had some good conversation too. They got to meet her too after hearing for the last few weeks about how she was coming to visit. It has been a fun visit all around and we didn't let occasion dampen the fun. This week chemo was just on the to do list, there are many more things to do as we enjoy this week together.

My hemoglobin is up in the 11s thanks to the iron infusions. Liver levels were a little up but not enough to be a concern. I should just watch my Tylenol intake while I deal with a sinus headache this week.

I did have a stubborn port. I had to get a special dose of a medicine that breaks down a membrane that sometimes builds up in the port. It is flushing but they weren't able to get blood back out for the blood draw. So I got the medicine and then we attempted a blood draw out of my arm which is always a nightmare. The medicine needs 30-40 minutes to work so with the draw out of my arm we could still get the results back and do the nurse visit while we waited for the port to clear up.

When I got back to the infusion room, all was ready to go and it was working wonderfully. It wasn't even really a delay. They all know what they are doing there and I appreciate that.