Round Two

How nice to have wi-fi in the infusion room. Swedish Cancer Institute rocks! Of course, now that I say that, I find that even though my mac says I’m connected to the network, I can’t get to anything. Unless my oncology nurse is also a network troubleshooter, I may be posting this from home after all. (She’s not, I asked.)

I’m here at the institute getting my second chemo infusion. I’ve got a nice reclining chair, and a bed next to my chair, in case my dear husband decides that he needs a break from the hard little chair he’s sitting on and takes a wee nap. There’s an old 13-inch TV with limited cable (AMC is playing The Thomas Crown Affair – love Pierce and Rene, and Denis too). And if we decide to break out Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, there’s a DVD player (as well as a VHS player, if I wanted to dig out some old tapes and bring them with me next time). OK, so the entertainment technology is not cutting-edge, but as long as the medical equipment is, I’ll call it good.

Infusion starts with my pre-meds – all the anti-nausea medication (three different ones), which seem to do the trick because I didn’t have any nausea after my last treatment. Pre-meds take about an hour. Then the chemo starts. I get two chemo meds, one after the other and each takes about 45 min to an hour. Then it all gets topped off by a shot of neulasta – the wonder drug that jumpstarts my blood marrow’s ability to generate white blood cells. I certainly have enough distractions, but I’m happy to just sit here and enjoy the day. Sometimes the meds make me a little drowsy, so I may close my eyes for a while. All in all, not a bad way to spend the day.

I’m anticipating having a lovely evening visiting with my babysitters. My dear husband doesn’t want to leave me at home alone after chemo, and he has to take off for the mountains this afternoon, and darling daughter is working a 12-hour shift and won’t be home until later, and daughter’s dearest (ours too) has work obligations until later, so dear husband has lined up sitters for me. I’m hoping to spend the evening baking cookies and playing scrabble. A great end to a lazy day.  

(And I finally figured out how to connect to the network, so am able to post this from my chemo chair. hooray!)