1 down and 5 to go!!

It's been such a long, long day, that it feels like it was days ago that I wrote the post that I did this morning!!
I had my first Chemo treatment today. It went well, not too bad, just long sitting there in the chair for 3+ hours. BUT I got the newest chair in a private room .. .walls on both sides and a sliding glass door on the front. There are only a couple of those and a couple of semi private rooms and a couple with beds in them. The rest of the area is open space with recliners all along the wall. Each section does have curtains if you want to close them for more privacy and they have TV's & VCR's & movies that you can watch. This newest chair has both message & heat settings. I didn't use the heat but I did use the low setting of the back message . . .it was nice. I felt kind of bad because my mom had to sit in a regular doctors office chair all this time!! They also served me lunch which was pretty good. Then I just rested and tried to sleep. The first stuff they give me in my IV is a anti-nausea drug, then they give me a bag of the first chemo drug and when that's done, they give me one more bag of another chemo drug. Each bag takes about and hour. Toward the end of the last bag I was really starting to get into a deep sleep. I remember hearing voices and trying to wake up, but it just kept pulling me back into the sleep. Then the machine started beeping, loud beeping, which it does everytime a bag is almost gone. I woke up, looked at my mom and said "do you think they have a snooze button on that thing"?

Then we got the whole routine talk of what to watch for, what to do, etc. And then she told me I have to go back tomorrow to get a shot to help my body make white blood cells, to combat the chemo that zaps the while blood cells, so the shot will help me to fight off infection better. I have to get the shot in my stomach/waist region . . . hmmm, wonder how that's going to feel?

I then had to go the store to get some addtional anti-nausea drugs. This process took much longer than it should have and I felt so bad because my mom, although she got the day off, ended up needing to go to work for a while and here we are running much later than we thought!!

Mom, if you read this, I love you so much and I'll never be able to thank you enough, or tell you how much it means to me, for you to be there with me . . . . Thank You!!!

They say that the side effects like nausea usually don't happen for a day or 2 and if the medicine works well, it might not happen at all. I'm feeling pretty good tonight, just very, very tired. But I am prepared, just incase . . . . I've got my anti-nausea drugs at my bedside, which I supposed to take at the slightest, very first signs of nausea. I also have a trash can with plastic bag in it . . . again, just incase. There is nothing worse than trying to get to the bathroom when you have to throw-up!!

Do you know how sometimes things are obvious but it really doesn't hit you until someone phrases it a certain way ? Well obviously chemo involves tough and potent drugs that you wouldn't want to mess with, unless your life depended on it . . cancer!! But something was said today that made me realize, that I'm a walking, talking, toxic chemical waste dump!!!!!!!! I wonder if under the right lighting conditions . . .would I glow?!?!?! just kidding again . . . I've got to try and kid a lot, one of these day's I may not appreciate even my own humor.

OK, I'm really pooped, so I'll get going for now.
Keep Smilin'
Hugs,
Wendy