Thursday, August 1, 2013

It is hard to believe it is August already! Tomorrow is PINK FRIDAY!!

I went to the Vampire Club this morning. I had a bit of a problem giving blood today. They tried it twice by my arm and then had to get another tech to find my veins. They ended up taking it from my hand. I looked wounded when I went to sit back in the lobby to see the Dr. Had bandages on my arm and on my hand. It really didn’t hurt too badly. I guess I am getting used to this. As a last resort, they could have taken the blood from my port. My blood pressure was up to 119/80. It may have been since they were using me for a pin cushion at the Vampire Club.

I then saw the doctor and we discussed my blood count. It is 5.6 and the lowest is 4.8. It has dropped from 8.6. Since it was still above they decided to increase my dosage. They are splitting the difference. I took 100mg of Taxol last time and they now raised it to 130mg. I will give myself my Neupogen shots again over the weekend for three days starting tomorrow. On next Thursday, if my body is still strong enough, they will give me the full dose of 160mg. I am hoping my body will react well and rebuild itself, so I don’t have to be a prisoner in the house again. Only time will tell. I will take it one week at a time!

I have been keeping a notebook with questions to ask and write down things that I notice have changed on my body. I can then run them by the doctor to confirm that they are either a side effect or if this will be my new normal. Today, I told him about the small pea sized knot on my wrist of the left hand. He examined it and told me that it was a blood clot. He told me not to constrict it and in a couple of days it will move on its own. I should not be worried of it going to my heart or lungs. It will just dissolve. So today, I have not worn my compression sleeve and have been propping up my arm when possible. It doesn’t hurt, but I want it to go away. Not sure you can really see it in this picture. I think I need to save up and get a better camera.

I then went upstairs to the Infusion Center and they hooked me up to give me five different IV’s some were anti-nausea, steroids, and then my chemo drugs too. The nurses connect the IV’s to me by using my port. It is on my left side and looks like a large boil or lump. A device is surgically implanted under my skin. They then kind of snap a top on it that has a long needle in the middle of it. I remembered to put the cream on this morning to numb it. This is what the top connection looks like with the needle.

This is what is implanted under my skin that she plugs the above needle into so the chemo drugs will go directly into my blood stream.

This is how it is connected so you can see how it all connects under the skin.

This shows you how it is connected to my vein and how it follows through my blood system.

The nurse then flushed the port with a heperin solution once all the medication bags are empty. It keeps any blood from clotting in the port line between treatments. I can feel that when she pushes the fluid with the syringe. It feels like someone squirting water at you. The other IV drips you can’t feel. Today this process took two hours to receive all the medication. I haven’t had any side effect yet. Last week I turned red like a sunburn, but that was a result of all the steroids I took. They had given me four or five types of steroids and wanted to make sure that I was not allergic to the drugs. They didn’t give me all that this time. So my skin color is still the same. I didn’t have the hazy feeling afterwards either. I had parked my truck on the far side of the hospital, so in case my blood pressure was to drop, I would still be in the hospital and not driving. I made it home with no problem at all. I live eight miles from the hospital. I don’t have any headaches or any other side effects that I can tell yet. I am sure as my body absorbs more and more of this I could start to experience changes.

When I went home, I sat outside by the pool and read a book collecting some vitamin D. I also finished up some sewing on a baby blanket for a friend. I hope she likes it. She has a cute baby boy.

It is now eight thirty and I am feeling fine. I think I will try to go into the office tomorrow instead of working from home. If it gets to be too much I can always go home at lunch and work the rest of the day at home.

Sorry for the long post tonight, but when people ask me questions about it or I learn something new, I try to share it. Feel free to ask me questions, it doesn’t bother me. Knowledge is power! God wants me to make a difference and so if I am able to help someone to understand and get tested, and they can be a survivor too. Survivors stick together and become like sorority.

Overall today was a good day. 🙂 The sun was shining and the birds were singing. I am two treatments down and ten more to go! No side effects yet and feeling pretty good.