Last Friday I had my fourth chemo treatment. I meet Lance there and saw one of the PA's who I tell all the side effects I had with the last chemo and they tell you what to take or do to try to alleviate or reduce them. I have also had several discussions about putting in a port. That eliminates them trying to put the IV's into a vein in the one and only arm that can be used for that for the rest of my life. My veins in that arm aren't as easy to get the IV into and the more times it's stuck the worse the veins get. So I've scheduled the morning of my next treatment to have a port put in. It takes about 4 hours to put it in and then after that I have my second to the last chemo scheduled. So I will basically be at the hospital that whole day. I bet you want to spend your Friday that way too - ah, come on, you know you do!!
The side effects this time have actually not been as bad as previous treatments and I'm feeling pretty good - other than I can't find much that tastes good, I still have occasional diarrhea, headaches, insomnia, neuropathy on feet/toes and chemo brain effects. All in all, not too bad, considering...
In the chemo treatment room, there's a bell on the wall where you enter and exit. When someone finishes their last chemo treatment, the nurses have a little ritual. They give them a bottle of sparkling cider and the patient rings the bell, usually pretty vigorously. So whenever you hear the bell, everyone gets a little spark of excitement. I had only heard the bell previous to last Friday, one time. That was while I was in an exam room with a PA who explained the event cuz she actually listens for the bell and gets pretty thrilled about it.
During the last chemo, I actually got to see this event as one lady finished her treatments. Another gal I have visited with at chemo (I can't remember her name - chemo brain!) received news that day that she is in remission! We were all so excited for her! So next chemo day, she will be ringing the bell. It will be Mary Nickles last treatment that day, too, and she will be ringing the bell. I think the energy I get from these events will help me endure my last chemo, which will be the next chemo treatment after theirs and I'll be ringing the bell!!!!!!! Then I found out that I actually will ring the bell twice. The first time will be the one described above on May 25. Then I will continue to have chemo every three weeks with the cancer cell targeted drug (herceptin) until January 4th or 11th (chemo brain again) and I'll ring the bell again then. (This is the drug with the rare heart side effect but not all the other good side effects so I can continue on without much discomfort.)
I'll be going back to work next week where I'm finally getting back my own office space with walls and a door and won't have to be sharing with three others - Woohoo! (the three others are as thrilled as I am) We've made the cramped space work for the project we had to do but it's definitely time to move on! However, I will miss the little chats with my closest office mate, Linda. But our new offices are across from each other and Dianna will be closer to us, too.
I want to thank each of you who have registered or donated to the race for the cure! When I go in and see all of you who are supporting me, I am in awe and truly humbled by your support! I'm looking forward to that day and seeing you there. This week, I will be looking into a spot to meet before the race for a few pictures to memorialize the event. I'll let you know the particulars when I get it set up and any parking suggestions.
I truly can't thank each one of you enough for the love and support you give me - it really does help me get through the bad days, more than you know!
Love you all!
Nancy
No comments:
Post a Comment