First treatment down...

We're in the wee hours of Sunday. Bed is not far off. Friday, I finally started chemotherapy. It wasn't so bad, really...all things considered. I've been given a good supply of anti-nausea meds. I also had to go in yesterday morning for an immune system boosting-shot. Mainly I've been tired and spacy, with brief bouts of nausea. No puking, thankfully.

Chemotherapy is cumulative, so I know I'll be feeling like hell soon enough. I was disappointed to learn that after my chemo has been completed, I'll have to undergo six weeks of radiation, five days a week. As it turns out, the breast tumor is twice the size previously thought, and it has attached itself to my chest wall. It's still a good prognosis, but we have to be aggressive with it.

The chemo room has windows lining the east wall, with easy chairs facing the view of Vancouver Clinic and some trees. It took a while to get my treatment started, so I had extra time to look around and play with Violet in my lap. She, of course, was an instant star, gaining attention from the entire staff. We went in as a family, with pink scarves on our heads. Violet's came off quickly, but it was still adorable.

It took a few tries to get a good IV started. Consequently, I have a bruise in my right inner-arm. We ended up using my left wrist. It aches a tiny bit, once in a while. We started with a saline drip, then added to it some anti-nausea bags. When those were done, the chemo was started. As it turns out, I'm part of that lucky 10% that gets congestion and headaches from that particular set of drugs. A benadryl drip with a shot of morphine (in the IV tube, not my skin, thankfully) took care of it.

By the time we got home, I was feeling pretty out of it, but not too bad. Even with the added radiation to come in three months, I'm still okay with this. I'm still ready. This is a good thing. This is a time to learn, reflect, explore, dream, and love my little family as much as I can before the mundane world comes to reclaim me. And of course, this is also a time of rest. Speaking of rest, it's time I crawled into bed.