Yesterday was such a good day and I felt pretty calm even knowing that my treatment would be starting the next day. However, if you understand how satan works - he likes to crash and burn and offset the good by bringing on a lot of craziness and fear and I hate to give him any credit, but our morning got off to a really bad start.
My appointment at the treatment center was at 8:15 in Newport Beach; and we had never been there before and I wasn’t entirely certain where we were going. {You do not want to travel with Terry and Jayme under these circumstances!} Terry was busy packing food for me, as it was going to be about an 8 hour day, and we needed to bring our own food. Part of Terry’s personality can be overdoing, and he packed enough food for several people! 10 minutes until leave time and he hadn’t showered yet. I was really trying hard to not get upset, but there was really a lot of TENSION !!!
He was getting rattled and he often goes through this running commentary about other drivers when they’re not driving according to his standards - plus we had to drive through an area where many foreign drivers are on the road, {a good chance of more great commentary}, so I announced that I would drive - oh yeah, a great idea, indeed!
Well, we were approaching the “foreign driver” area, we hadn’t been talking, I was tearing up, and he told me to pull over, because I couldn’t see to drive. I did so, we switched places, and I proceeded to sob uncontrollably all the way to the chemo center. It was like I had been saving the tears for weeks. I just couldn’t stop and walked in with my blanket that Blair made me and my box of Kleenex, still crying and blowing my nose! I’m sure that it wasn’t an unusual scene for them, but I was pathetic! Terry had already apologized for being a jerk, but I was pathetic anyway.
I finally pulled myself together, and a very kind nurse, named Helen, introduced herself and took us up to the 2nd floor where there is a large room full of about 30 comfy recliners where we sit during our therapy. I weighed in and she put the IV in my arm and drew blood, then started me on a drip of Benadryl to make me relax, Decadron and Aloxi to prevent nausea, and Ativan for anxiety {yes, I had some!}. My red and white blood cells were within normal range and well as my platelets, so she began the drip of Rituxan (3-6 hours), Cytoxan, and Fludara.
I must say, that it was a totally relaxing and comfortable situation. Terry put my socks on, covered me up with Blair’s blanket, turned my IPOD on and I slept for several hours. I told Terry that he didn’t need to stay with me; I felt very secure and was able to tolerate the drugs - one can cause some immediate side effects, but I sailed through without a problem, so there was no need for him to stay. Blair showed up at 4:30 to take me home and I felt fine - no nausea or anything! I can’t tell you how good that felt!
I had survived my first day of treatment! Thank you, Lord!!!
The nurse did warn me that one of the drugs might give me a real boost of energy and she was right! I was still on my computer at 3:00 a.m. {that’s really late for Jayme, the sleeper!} My alarm was set for 5:30 and I really don’t know if I ever fell asleep.
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