The first part was meeting the
doctor. He did physical exam to measure the size of the tumor. Then
he invited Christy’s husband and Dad into the room and he explained what was
going to happen, why they were doing what they were doing, what to do if there
is problem and what will happen. The doctor was really nice and took all the
time needed to answer any question we could come up with. They will
change her last treatment so it will be right after our family vacation to Jackson. Otherwise
it would have been that week we leave for Jackson.
- 10:30 am - Got to the treatment room and they started connection to the port. It went really smooth and didn't hurt as much as expected.
- 11:20 am - Christy started her IV's with some steroids.
- 11:45 am - Started the first chemo drug. It is the one that starts with the letter "P". It will take about 40 minutes. Then we still have the "TCH". I do not know if they are one at a time or all together.
- 12:20 pm - This is going to take a while. There are about 18 chair in the room and right now they are about half full. Christy seems to be doing really good. The nurse is really great. It is the same nurse that gave the class yesterday. We are still on the first chemo. The nurse just spent about 15 minutes going over a stack of papers with info on everything that could happen and what to do about it. We have WIFI in the treatment room. They have asked people to not use their cell phones.
- 12:50 pm - Started the second bag. Two more to go. They can't mix the chemo drugs. Earlier they had a lady come thru with a therapy dog. It was the size of full-size lab or poodle. It was a mix, called a labradoodle His name was Trent, about 4 years old and silver-gray color. The lady who was with the dog was very friendly and it was fun visiting with Trent.
- 4:30 pm - Finished the appointment. Since they give each chemo agent one at a time, it takes a while. There is one of the drugs that they give in a larger amount and a little bit slower rate on the first appointment, so this should be the longest chemo treatment day of them all. The future treatments should start around 9:30am and hopefully be done around 3:30pm.
The Good News:
- There are only 17 treatments total. Somehow it came across there would be 6 treatments followed by 17 more. The first 6 are the ones were she will get all four agents. Then there are 11 more treatments with only two agents. Making 17 total treatments. That's a relief!
- They started the treatment with some strong steroids plus she is taking steroids orally for three days (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow). They gave her some medication to help reduce nausea at the treatment center then sent her home with two more she can take orally.
- Christy was feeling very good when she got home and following her doctor's orders went for a 30 minute walk and was feeling great. With all the steroids they said she may have a ton of energy for a day or two.
The Bad News:
- It is expected that Christy will start losing her hair by the next treatment. We meet another lady who was there for her second treatment and had lost her hair. It actually started falling out so much they just cut the rest off. Those without hair were there with something like a scarf. Christy did get a catalog with some pretty cool hats and wigs.
- Her current doctor is retiring in June. So when they happens someone else at the treatment center will take over. Most of the contact is actually with the nurses and the one working with her today was very, very good. I don't know if she will have the same nurse each time.
What's Up Next:
- Her next appointment is April 14th, a Monday. They will draw blood and check how her bone marrow is holding up. If it doesn't pass they will cancel the treatment and send her home.
- They will check it again at the first of the next treatment on April 24th.
- The next echocardiogram is in 12 weeks.
Even though it was a long day it went
really well. We left feeling very upbeat. I don't think any of us
felt really drained from the experience.
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