Chemo Number 5

For those that do not know I have to get 12 chemos in all. It's pretty much every other Tuesday as well. That's how they've been working out. I went in yesterday. Early. 8:45 a.m. I had trouble with the stupid port again. I don't like to bleed. I mean, this thing is meant to make it easier. Bah. She stabbed my port with the needle which hurt worse this time. Then she takes this syringe of saline and flushes it. They pull back on the syringe to make sure that blood comes out. That's called a blood return. She is gonna draw my blood this way and test it. Well no blood. Not a drop. I see an old man getting his blood drawn next to me, through his port and he's bleeding just fine. Great. So I have to go sit in this big chair and lay on this side, then that side, raise my arm, cough, etc. The nurse asks if I want her to pull it out and stick me again or just draw from my arm. I remember the last time they did this they stuck me again and had to draw from my arm anyway so I told her to just draw from my arm. My blood was slow in that too. Whatever. So I finally see the doc. My blood looks great. I still have a great red and white cell count and my iron was looking good too. Yeah :) I go back into one of the many chairs to get my chemo in. There are TONS of people there. Every chair is full. So I take the one open chair. I prefer to not be around so many people but eh. There was a nasty storm going on out the window while I waited for the nurses to mix my drugs. I love watching storms. One poor woman getting chemo across from me was scared. She was probably late 30's, early 40's. She had a cap on and no hair. I can't help but look at these people and wonder what cancer they have....what their diagnosis is. How can you? I am in a place where people very often die. I sit next to people every other week who may not make it. It's weird. Anyway, they finally get to me to do my chemo. They never did get a blood return. They are supposed to make sure they do....but they just could not get one. Well, they knew it was going in the right place because if not the saline injected into me would have made my skin start bulging out and stuff. So they asked the doc and he was sure it was fine so they just started the chemo with no blood return. I hope NEXT time they get one. I hate being stuck 100 times. It's getting old quick. I finally finished chemo. I started to sleep in the chair after awhile yesterday. It's boring. It's long. Soap operas were on and I just can't get interested in the Young and the Restless or Passions. I am so sorry to fans of that show and I know my mom loves those soaps. lol Y& R is too tiring for me. It's like sleepy. The music to the show is like a lullaby and makes me want to take a nap. Passions? Well it's weird. Witches and demons and people getting possessed. Nah. Too odd for me. I fell asleep. I was even dozing off while the nurse was pushing one of the drugs into my IV. There are two drugs that aren't dripped the regular way. The nurse has to sit there for a certain amount of time with a syringe and slowly push it in. One if blood red. That's an interesting drug. The one they say causes a lot of the bad symptoms. I did get tummy pains all day afterwards and a yucky taste in my mouth. That always happens. But I feel good today. No trouble to speak of. :)

From July 17th

Had my Fourth Chemo Treatment on the 3rd

I had my fourth treatment, and it went pretty well. didn't really feel any nausea until the past few days. It's weird how that happens. I am slightly nauseated now, but not terribly bad. I didn't even have trouble with my port that day. I was tired though and kept dozing off in the chair. It gets fairly boring. But I am glad it went well and that I am feeling pretty good. I do get tired and it seems after my treatments my belly gets a braxton hicks sort of feeling. I decided to stay at home and rest the rest of the day after that and then I felt fine. I had another OB visit on the 6th and I got another sonogram done for the baby. He/she is still doing good and is very modest. I was hoping we could discover the sex, but the knees were glued tightly together. I have another appointment on the 20th. I see the high risk OB in August. My next chemo is on the 17th and will continue to update this blog. Thanks for reading!

Baby at 13 weeks. All is well so far!

Third Chemo Treatment Today

I had my third chemo treatment today. I had an appointment for 8:45 a.m. Got there, they went to do my bloodwork. Labs must be drawn each time to check my white blood cell count, red blood cell count, iron, etc. Everything came back good. But it wasn't easy getting there. I had the port surgery before my 2nd treatment. The port is inserted under the skin and into a vein for chemo and blood draws. They stuck me with the needle. I am instructed to take a deep breath when they jab me. I did and it wasn't as bad as I feared. But they could get no blood out. None. Not a drop. They had me lay this way, then that way, then cough, and nada. So they pulled the needle out (which is as bad as it going in if not worse) and decided to stick me again. Still, nothing. No blood. They flushed the IV with enough saline that I am surprised I wasn't floating out of there. Then they finally said, well, sometimes this happens and you just need to move around a bit.....so let's do a normal blood draw and we'll hope the port works for chemo. So I got stuck yet again in my arm which oddly hurt today. I am used to it and normally it doesn't hurt. Depends on the nurse I guess. So they finally got my blood and I went back to the waiting room. Another 10 minutes or so and they led me to the doctors waiting room where I waited for the doc then finally was put in my chair for chemo. They got my meds mixed pretty quick this time. They brought me some cheese crackers and ice water and a big pink blanket. It was coooold in there today. I got my chemo and was out by 12:30 p.m. It's always a long day on chemo day. But I feel fine so far. No nausea. I think on chemo days I get injected with so many anti-nausea meds that I actually feel BETTER. Weird. Hopefully not many side effects with this treatment. I have all my hair still!!! I was told I'd probably lose it fast if I was going to lose it and so far? I still got it. Yeah!!!! :) I won't get my hopes up too much. I just hope everyone will still love a bald Sandi rocking the whole Sinead look. lol (oh I hope not)

June 18, 2007

Monday, June 18, 2007
Had a good weekend

Friday itself was not good. I was very sick for some reason....nauseas all day starting early in the morning. I was awful all day and wondering WHY it was so bad again. But by Saturday morning I felt pretty good. I went to a family reunion, said hello to everyone. I haven't seen anybody except my parents and my older sister since this whole thing started. (I am sorry I missed you this weekend by the way Dee! I got into town later than planned and when I called you weren't home.) But anyway, I got out to see Short Lived Fun (the best local band around) that night. I felt up to it so I went. I didn't stay too late. I was tired and figured not to push it. Plus there was a long drive home. But it was a good time...nice to see everyone out. I like feeling alive again. It's pretty nice! :)