Here we go again

It’s Tuesday afternoon, after the chemo treatment. It was just as I remembered: I walked in to the doctor’s office, signed in, made small talk with the receptionist, then I was called to the torture chamber lab where I was weighed and then poked with a needle to give up 3 vials of blood. When I saw the doctor in the exam room, we discussed pain medication, the possibility of thoracentesis # 6, then we decided that we’d spent enough time looking through my novel of a chart and he walked me to the Chemo Lounge.

I found a nice recliner next to a handsome and quiet gentleman, and I waited for my turn to see the nurse. Once she had pried my arms out for inspection, she determined that one of my veins looked pretty good for today’s IV, so she slid the needle right in. And then it got stuck. So she wiggled it around a bit to see if the flow would improve. It didn't. There was nothing going in, and nothing coming out. This was not good. I remember this happening once before, and the solution was the same for this time: She took the needle out and found a new vein with a new needle. (The new vein bled like a stuck pig.) So I got stuck twice for the IV. Yup, just like old times.

The new schedule is chemo once a week for 3 weeks, then a week off. After 3 months, there will be another CT scan to determine if the gemcitabine is working. The good news is that I don’t have to have that after-chemo shot -- hallelujah! (I hated that as much as the chemo itself.) Friday or Saturday I should be feeling the effects of this chemo, so my friends Mr. Couch and Mr. Motrin may be seeing a lot of me then.

Thank you, my friends, for being here for me on this leg of the journey. I could not do this alone, and your support helps me more than I can say.

¶ 5:10 PM