First Day of Treatment

After all the doctor's visits and consultations, all the testing, and all the preparation, treatment finally began today. The chemo device was inserted into my port by nurse Clarabelle (for us oldsters, maybe her nickname here should be Howdy Doody, as she shares her name with the clown from the old 50's kid's show) and the chemotherapy medicine was attached to it. I was given a pump, which was inserted inside a fanny pack, which will pump the fluid through the tubes and into my system. I was also given a prescription for an anti-nausea medicine, as the chemo can lead to a little nausea. Following this I went over next door to radiation where I met a new nurse, Molly (after having previously met Natasha, Debbie, and Pat in radiation). The radiation actually went pretty quickly and then I was out of there. Day 1 down, 24 more to go.

Just a reminder, the next three days are radiation only (though I will meet with McFly on Tuesday) and then Friday is "disconnect the chemo" day, followed by the last of the radiation for the week. Early in the evening I did begin to experience just a slight bit of what you might call nausea but nothing I couldn't handle. Then I had little bite to eat and those symptoms basically just disappeared. Maybe eating small amounts several times a day will help that. I'm not sure if Tuesday will be worse than today, Wednesday will be worse than Tuesday, etc., or what, but I guess I'll find out. I'll only take the medicine (which I picked up tonight on the way home) if I really need it. I got some rectal pain medicine several weeks ago from Big Hands (which cost me $35.00, even as our co-payment share) and I made the same commitment then and never did have enough pain to warrant taking any. At least this medicine was only $5, so if I don't need much of it, it's no great financial loss.

Bathing should be interesting tomorrow. We'll see how that goes, along with sleeping tonight. But during the day, it really hasn't been bad. The doctors did tell me that I won't feel the radiaion (which I didn't, as it was like an X-ray) and other than any small symptoms, the chemo shouldn't be too noticeable. I did work a full day, which required me to be at work past 6:00 p.m. But that's nothing like when we first moved here and what I had to go through for a few days just to put in a full day of work. Here's that story:

When we first moved from Ohio to Illinois, our brand new house wasn't ready yet so we were living in long-term housing in Arlington Heights, about 35 minutes from Bartlett. Job requirements caused me to have to go downtown to the Loop for work. The boys (Scott and Brian), however, had school - in Bartlett - that started at 8:00 a.m. Cyndy didn't drive then and we really didn't know anybody so we (or rather, I) had to take care of everything ourselves. We would leave the apartment in Arlington Heights at around 7:15 or so to get the boys to school on time. Then I would drive back to Arlington Heights to the train station at Arlington Park to take a train into the city. The express trains had long since run so I got the local (stops at every stop). Finally about 10:00, I would make it into work. But school was out at 2:00. I'd leave work around noon to catch one of the few trains going back to Arlington Park around that time. Then I would hop in the car, drive to Bartlett, pick up the kids, and bring them back to our apartment in Arlington Heights. By now it was about 2:45 and I made the decision that I would rather drive back downtown so I could leave whenever I wanted to in the evening rather than be dependent upon the few trains going my way at that time of night. Generally around 4:00 I would be back at work. Now it was 4:00 p.m. and I had worked a total of about 2 hours so far. So to get 8 hours in, I had to work until 10:00 p.m. (thinking back, I don't remember when I ever ate, but I'm sure I snuck it in sometime). Then I got in my car and drove home, normally making it by 11:00 p.m. or so. So I left home at 7:15 a.m., worked 8 hours, and got home by 11:00 p.m., thanks to my "commute" of about 7 hours a day of driving, riding, waiting, and walking.

I did that schedule for about one week and then we went to church for the first time in this area. When some of the church people heard of my plight, a couple of women took pity on me and volunteered to take the boys to school and pick them up. They did that until we were able to move into the house a couple of weeks later and for that Cyndy and I will be eternally grateful (for both the women's generosity AND being able to move into the house).

I'm feeling pretty good right now and for that I am thankful. I know God has been watching over me so far and I trust and pray He will continue to do so. Let's go see how this fanny pack is for sleeping.