I am finally able to be upright long enough to write tonight. This chemo stuff is tough!!! One of the oncologists believes I had a severe, although rare (lucky me...NOT!!!) side effect of Taxotere, one of the chemo drugs. I am better today but far from "normal". I thought I'd share some pictures Kristi uploaded from my first chemo treatment on Tuesday, May 6, 2014.
In my brain, I had an image of what a chemo infusion center might look like. I pictured a big room with lots of loungers all circled around the edge of the room. Boy, was my idea waaay off! Some chemo infusions are done in small, private rooms.
For my first infusion, Arland, Katie, and I were taken to a small room. The room had a HUGE lounger in it, along with a sink, IV pole, side table for holding my water, etc., a medicine cabinet, one chair, and a cupboard with pillows and gowns in it. Because there were three of us, they had to squeeze another chair in! Here are some pictures to show you what happened during my first infusion.
Number 6.
Arland was there to offer support and to hold my hand during this first infusion. That was very comforting because none of us had any idea what to expect!
Did I mention that the recliner was HUGE?!!? BOTH Katie and I fit in it!!!!! Sarah...notice my glass of ice water! :-)
Even though you can't tell, I am getting my infusion in this picture. There is an IV line that goes into my port which is under my jacket on my left side. The IV pole is off to the side. Supposedly, if you eat ice chips during infusions, (which is what I'm eating in the picture) it may help to prevent mouth sores. Unfortunately, that did NOT work for me! :-(
Because I was there from 8:00am until 3:30pm, Arland went to get me some broccoli cheese soup for lunch. If you know me well, you know that I do not like spicy food, so I figured broccoli cheese soup would be a very safe bet. Holy pepper shakers!!! It was soooo full of black pepper that all I could eat were the few chunks of broccoli in the soup. Obviously, this picture was taken before I tasted the soup because I'm still smiling. Had I tasted it, the pictured would have shown me gulping water!!!
More pictures will follow from subsequent infusions.
No comments:
Post a Comment