Jeebus.
So first I go to UW Medical Center at 8am to make a deposit, just in case. That goes fine.
Then I go to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance at the Hutch for a blood draw at 9:30am. They say, hey, you don’t need a blood draw. Go on up to infusion. I wasn’t supposed to start infusion until 10:30, but I went up anyway. They told me I actually wans’t scheduled for infusion until 1pm. Great. So after waiting around there until 10:50 or so, they eventually figure out that they have no idea who called me and told me to come at 9:30 and that 1pm is definitely the best time.
So my mom, Jon, and I go to Coastal Kitchen for brunch, which was very tasty if highly caloric. Then we went back to the Hutch at 1pm for my infusion. I get a room pretty quickly and lie down. Basically what’s supposed to happen at this point is for them to give me an IV, some anti-nauesa drugs, a test dosse of one of the chemo drugs (the Bleo), and then wait an hour to see if I have an allergic reaction to the Bleo. Then they’d push the rest of the Bleomycin, Adriamycin, and Vinblastine and then give the Dacarbazine as a drip.
This whole process should have taken about 4 hours starting at 1pm. But they were busy. Someone showed up 5 hours late to their appointment and so I didn’t end up getting out of there until 7pm. Sheesh. They assure me in the future it will take only about 3 hours from sit down to get up & leave.
Anyway, no crazy side effects yet. I do have a bit of an upset stomach and maybe the slightest twinge of nausea. I just took some ativan to help with that and am on some other crazy anti nausea drug called Ondansetron (brand name, Zofran), which is $250 for 6 pills (but of course MSFT insurance covers that np). It’s pretty leet the way it works — it selectively blocks serotonin receptors to keep "hey, you should vomit now" messages from reaching the brain.
So we went out tonight to Daniel’s Broiler for a tasty steak and chocolate desert. I figure may as well celebrate having no side effects. mmmm good.
Now I don’t know if my slight nausea is because of the chemo or the immense foodstuffs. I’m betting the latter.
Anyway, I’ll update on my status throughout the weekend. One of the drugs may give me a fever of 102, but so far no fever. We’ll see.
Here are some pics of me getting my treatment.
Too happy for chemo
You have approximately 7 minutes to live.
7 minutes — think fast!
They put on full hazard gear to handle this stuff.
Adriamycin is red!
Mom and Me
Battery powered IV Drip for bathroom trips np
Glad to see photos, especially ones with a smile on your face, even though it is of you getting chemo. (thbththtbththth — F you, cancer) I can just tell what your immune system was saying: "Ok. Let\’s get this done!"
This cancer thought it was being tricky by being a cancer OF the immune system. So I\’m sure that\’s how it snuck through. But with a little help from modern medicine, it should be brushed aside without much difficulty.
Glad to here things are going well so far. Joe was talking about doing a Daniel\’s vs. Ruth\’s Chris comparison at some point. He seemed personally offended that I\’ve been to neither. You in?
Right on (y). You look fab. I was kinda expecting one of those gowns that doesn\’t close all the way in the back. Those don\’t look good on anyone ;)KellyP.S. Daniel\’s is soooo much better than Ruth\’s Chris! IMHO, the real debate is Metropolitan Grill -vs- Daniels.
you are looking happier then ever 🙂 i am sure you\’ll be healthy in not time. btw, can\’t believe you ditched me on the whole chocolate thing for daniel\’s…sheesh
hey john, just wanted to say hi 🙂 good to see you smiling in your pics.