Chemo Treatment #2

I went back to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa Thursday for Chemo Treatment #2. Mark and Nicky went with me.  It was nice for Nicky to see what it was all about.

I had my blood drawn Thursday night, then visited the doctor's on Friday morning.  My blood test revealed a couple of things:

1. I wasn't eating enough protein, so need to work on that.
2. My hemoglobin counts were down. They will keep an eye on that.
3. White blood cell counts were good.  

After the doctor's visit, we headed up to Infusion.  This was the first time I had my port accessed and I was a really nervous about it.  The nurse pushed on it a lot to find the right spot, it was still a little swollen from the surgery to put it in.  I didn't even feel the needle go in, I put some numbing cream on it, which probably helped a little.

They give me pre-meds before the chemo meds.  I am not sure what all I get, one is Benadryl, and then a Steroid and some nausea medicine.  When they gave me the nausea medicine,  I had a reaction to it.  I started getting really warm, then it was hard for me to breathe.  I felt like my lungs were filling up with something.  Mark and Nicky said my face was getting really red.  Mark went and got the nurse and she stopped the medicine.  The symptoms immediately went away.  

The rest of the chemo went fine.  They have a TV setup in the room and I watched "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2".  We headed home right after chemo.  It was good to sleep in my own bed.

Today (Saturday) I am just a little tired, not too bad.  I have my Neulasta on board device on, it will give me the medicine tonight.  That is the one that made my back hurt and stomach hurt last time. They told me to take some Claritin and Advil to alleviate that pain.  

A couple of pictures of our trip:

This is a field of yellow flowers, maybe mustard, that we saw in Oklahoma. 

I picked up this gold and black cap in the Infusion Room.  A local church makes them for the cancer patients.  I liked this because it was our Lebanon Yellowjacket School colors.

We bought a Pike Pass for our car, so we can just drive right through the turnpike.  It's really nice.  

This week will probably be pretty hard, they are saying that the fatigue will hit me pretty hard.  I'll just take it one day at a time.  

They also told me that my hair may just get really thin and not fall all the way out.  I think they were just trying to make me feel good for a little while.  I can pull out handfuls of it, but my hair is normally really thick.  I guess it's another one of the things I will just deal with.