Chemo begins...

Posted by Wayne:

Another day of firsts for me starts this morning. I get my first chemo treatment. Of course each visit for anything starts with bookwork. You get there early to complete paper work and have vitals taken {blood pressure, temp, pulse & blood work}. I think I will stop here and tell you what led to the discovery of my cancer.

I was tired constantly, had no energy, got out of bed in the morning just as tired as when I went to bed. In walking 60 feet from my front door to the mail box, I would have to stop and catch my breath.
My job at school was 4 hours a day that felt like 20 hours. After every task I had to stop and rest.


One afternoon, I went to the doctor at 1:00 pm. He ordered blood work. At 2:15 pm, his office called and told me to go to the hospital because I needed a blood transfusion The body is supposed to have a blood count of 12 or better, mine was 6.8. They started the transfusion at 8:00 pm, at 4:00 am they had given me 3 units of blood, bringing me up to less than 10.

If anyone is thinking of going to the hospital to get some rest, forget that foolishness. Changing bags, taking vitals, checking monitors and nurses telling you to get some rest means that rest is a rare thing. I was in the hospital from Monday at 4:00pm until Wednesday at 4:00 pm and may have gotten 10 hours sleep in 48 hours.

My real concern was food. My last solid meal was lunch Monday at 11:30 am. My next solid meal was Wednesday at 2:30 pm. After 53 hours, broth and jello look real good. Oh! This was done because of the tests they were going to run, may run, or thought about running.

Within a week of all the tests, they informed me I had colon cancer. Which brings me back to the start of this page and my first chemo treatment.

I am very nervous as I walk into the treatment area. It is a large room with 25 to 30 treatment centers. Each center consists of a recliner and a rolling IV stand. Extra chairs are scattered about for visitors. 4 nurses are working the floor and they seldom slow down.

The room was half full when I got seated. Soon Ms. Nancy came and checked my wrist band. She returned with my first drug, an anti-nausea; it was a 30 minute drip.The room is filling up and the noise level goes up; not loud, just a constant hum of voices and a beeping of machines that need to be changed or altered. The nurses are on the go almost non stop.Books and magazines are provided. They told me if I started a story and my time was up, take the article home with me. Soft drinks , coffee, snacks are in one corner free to anyone who wants them {patients or visitors} In front of the nurses station is a seating area away from the patients. Behind the seating is a low wall. On the wall are large bowls of peppermint candy and assorted suckers.

Ms Nancy returns with my 2nd drip, this one is 90 minutes. If you need a bathroom break you simply unplug your machine and go to one of the two uni-sex restrooms. Cell phones are permitted, but not used as much as you would think. Loved ones leave and go to the fast food shops and bring sandwiches back. Ann's back was bothering her from sitting so much, so at my urging she left and went out for a while. She did not know you were allowed to bring food in. She was gone when lunch started.

Boredom is a problem. As you look around you see people in much worse shape than yourself and you wonder if you are looking at yourself a few months down the road. My next drip was another 90 minute bag. My attention span is that of a gold fish: once around the bowl and I’ve forgotten every thing. Don’t want to read or listen to the mp3 player, and I only want to go home.

Last drip is a 10 minute bag. I guess that would have been dessert. They take all these tubes out of my port and get ready to hook me up with 46 hour pump. My little buddy is 12 inches long, 4 to 5 inches wide and 3 to 4 inches deep. It has long list if instructions full of do’s and don't's. We were there from 8:00 am to 2:30 pm, which was a very long day. They told me to be very careful with cold beverages, as cold could lead to respiritory distress. Life sure has changed.

Stay tuned for the continuing saga.