Chemo Trio

Laura went in for another round of AC chemotherapy today and I got to be her guest! It was my first time at one of her chemo sessions and I was excited to be with her. Our morning get to a quick kick-off with Brandon, Laura's cousin who had been visiting and helping with Linda's move, and Joe leaving for the airport after breakfast.

After we finished eating, Linda applied a glob of Lidocaine to the skin over Laura's port to get her numbed up and comfortable. Then Laura took a handful of anti-nausea medications, preparing for the golden healing fluids she was about to receive.

On our way to chemo #3

Once we arrived at the oncologist's office we got a private room and nurse Ellen promptly removed Laura's bandage and wiped off the Lidocaine and before I knew it a rather largish "sucker fish" needle was stuck into Laura's port. She was hooked in and ready to go.

Ellen used two syringes of saline to flush the port. She tried to draw blood after the first flush, but nothing came out, so another saline flush was needed to clear it out. That happens sometimes.

Next 3 vials of blood were rapidly pulled, so Ellen could analyze Laura's white and red blood counts and make sure she was in a good enough condition to go through with today's treatment. Her counts were high (which is good) although she did register slightly anemic, but better than her previous numbers. Ellen said the anemia was to be expected and a side effect from treatment. Since the blood cell counts were good, treatment could now begin in earnest.

Ellen first administered some more anti-nausea medication into Laura's drip line. This time she put the drugs into a drip bag, since injecting it into the line last time gave Laura some lasting headaches and the slower speed might help a bit with these side effects.

Up next was Cytoxan, which came in a clear bag and made the drip line cold to the touch. They must have kept this drug in the fridge. Laura said she couldn't feel the cool temperature of the liquid as it went into her port.

The Cytoxan took up most of administration time and Laura took a bathroom break carting her drip system with her. We played scrabble and talked with Ellen and a few other nurses who would pop in on occasion.

While the Cytoxan was still dripping we met with Laura's oncologist. She measured Laura's tumor in 2d space and said that it looks to be getting smaller and all signs are pointing in the right direction; the chemotherapy appears to be doing its thing!

Once the Cytoxan was all gone it was time for Adriamycin, which gets administered by hand into the drip line through a large syringe thingy. It's a colorful red liquid, affectionately named "red devil" by the nurses, a name which Laura wasn't really digging. I thought it looked like cool-aid. This stuff only took about 20 minutes to go into the port. Gulp, gulp!

Adriamycin is boss

Then Laura received her second shot of Zolodex, which keeps her ovaries in a "cocoon mode" in hopes of preserving as many eggs as possible. To administer this shot, Ellen first gave a strong numbing solution injection, which made a little bubble on the skin of Laura's belly. Then Ellen got a crazy big syringe, which had a large gauge needle on it, that delivers a time release capsule/pod of the medicine, and stuck it into the numbed up bubble, deep into Laura's stomach. It was pretty intense because I could see the needle moving around under Laura's stomach - the movie Aliens comes to mind. This part of the procedure was more like something you would normally see at a piercing studio. Good thing that numbing shot did its job because Laura didn't so much as flinch. (I barely did, maybe a little when there was blood at the end!)

That about wrapped up our 4+ hours at the oncologist's office and it was high time for us to head home. We were both pretty tired and had a homemade banana-strawberry protein shake before settling down.

Happy day