Thursday, October 29, 2015
Today I had my second chemo. I have accompanied this entry
with photos that include needles inserted into me. Just so you are prepared.
Two drugs, Aloxi and Pepcid, are “pushed” into me. The saline, dexamethasone and texotere flow
from bags hung on a stand at my side. This stand has wheels so I can take it to
the restroom should I need that. Also the IV department provides comfy
recliners for me for the two hours I sit there.
We left home about 9:45 for a 10 am appointment at Mayo
Clinic Health System-Red Cedar. After a few preliminaries of registering and
checking my vitals, the actual session began at 10:15. First the needle was inserted into a vein on
my left hand. I had had a bit of redness last time with the needle at my right
elbow. If a problem develops, it will be easier to care for on the hand. You can see the arrangement in the photo
below.
Then in succession came a few minutes of saline solution
followed by 20 mg of dexamethasone, a steroid.
The dex started into me at 10:15 and flowed until 10:30. After an 8-minute preparation, the next drug,
an anti-nausea medication, Aloxi, .25 mg, flowed in, and then 20 mg of Pepcid,
another stomach calmer. The last two
drugs took 7 minutes to enter me. At
10:43 the 150 mg of Taxotere began to flow.
At 11:58 the bag was empty. After a Lupron shot, something I receive
every 4 months, we left for home about 12:10.
Every drug is scanned before it is set up to flow into me.
Also, before the Texotere is hooked up to me, two people have to read the
labels and confirm that it is Texotere and it is meant for me. I have a picture
of the scanner below also.
The session takes place in a normal sized consultation room.
Everyone is attentive, very professional, yet willing to carry on conversations
about whatever topic arises. Today we discussed Dexter cattle, an Irish breed,
for a bit. I read most of the time. My
current book is Our Daily Bread, a socioeconomic history of Germany from
1500-1850. I have amassed a large amount of data on my ggg grandfather Jacob
Reiser and I have decided to turn all that material into some kind of small book.
Our Daily Bread is part of my research.
I type this at 1:30 pm after lunch. I feel fine and will go for a walk of about 2
miles shortly. I don’t know how I will
feel tomorrow so I want to get the walk in today. Last time I really felt ok except for
tiredness and constipation issues. I am
not sure that those issues were caused by the chemo; they had been present for
several weeks prior as I worked through the ascites problems in my abdominal
cavity.
I have been thinking about an entry on my emotional state as
my cancer has taken the turn that it has, but I will wait a bit before I write
that. The short version is that I am blessed with a makeup that allows me to
say truly that I am not worried and not afraid. But there is more to that and I
would like to explain it.
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